The village of Dunbeath is a physically and socially fragmented community, with an ageing and decreasing population. Following thorough research including consultation with local residents, GRAS developed a proposal which made a concerted move away from typical volume house builder's models to try to address these problems.

By replicating the existing urban grain and focusing the development along the edge of the village's main thoroughfare, the proposal completes the one sided, exposed street to reinforce the notion of high street. The effect is a complete, close-knit community, providing weather protection, increasing social interaction and encouraging pedestrian movement along the high street.

This pulls the development away from the fast, noisy and dangerous A9 high road, while freeing the centre of the site for community recreational, agricultural, ecological and educational uses focused around a new grey water treatment and combined heat and power system serving the southern half of the village.