Kieran recently invited Belgian practice hé! architectuur to Edinburgh for a fantastic talk at Custom Lane, organised through the Edinburgh Architectural Association. The brilliant Hanne & Renée showed their work and inspired a full house with their confidence and heartachingly beautiful projects.

The evening marked the last in a series of four EAA Invites... talks curated by Kieran, featuring 31/44 Architects, Izat Arundell, Rintala Eggertsson Architects and hé! architectuur.

A big thank you to all four practices for sharing their work, and to everyone who came along and supported the series, making it such a success, especially ESALA for co-hosting the first three talks.

You can find out more about upcoming EAA Invites… and other events here.

We were delighted to be invited to Aberdeen to give a talk to the 57°10 Architecture Society at the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture, Robert Gordon University, with Mike representing the office.

The talk was an opportunity to share some of our thoughts on architectural competitions and their importance to the practice. It was an exceptionally well-run event, organised by an enthusiastic group of architecture students.

A big thank you to the society for the invitation and warm welcome, and particularly for the lovely gift of a model of our Brownsbank project!

Our feasibility study for MacDiarmid’s Brownsbank Trust has been featured in The Architects’ Journal.

The study explores how Hugh MacDiarmid’s former home can be transformed into a new cultural centre, combining the conservation of the historic cottage with new accommodation for writers, teaching and events. The proposals establish a framework for Brownsbank to become an active place for contemporary writing while safeguarding the buildings and landscape that give the site its distinctive character.

Read the full Architects’ Journal article here.
And more on the project on our website here.

Urban Realm has featured our plans for the future of Brownsbank, the former home of poet Hugh MacDiarmid.

Set within a secluded woodland near Biggar, the A-listed cottage was MacDiarmid’s home for more than two decades. Our proposals look to preserve the particular character of Brownsbank while opening it up to a new generation of writers and visitors, with new spaces for writing, learning and cultural activity carefully introduced across the site.

Read the full Urban Realm article here.
And more on the project on our website here.

Sharing the good news that two of our projects have been shortlisted for the EAA Awards 2026.

Hermitage Drive has been shortlisted in the Medium Projects category, and Cluny Gardens in the Small Projects category.

You can check out all of the entries here.

We recently featured some drawings for Cluny Gardens on Instagram.

We look forward to hearing the results when they’re announced!

We have been working with Mackenzie Residential on eight new family houses in Trinity.

The site was previously occupied by a 35-bedroom 1960s care home attached to a late Victorian villa. Following detailed investigation, the care home was found to be unviable for conversion and demolished. Much of the material has been retained and reused, including salvaged roof slates, while masonry from the demolition was crushed on site and reused as Type 1 fill.

The original villa is being restored and converted back into a single-family home, while we are building eight new three-storey houses.

The new houses use a limited material palette: pale brick has been selected to sit alongside the sandstone of the Victorian villa, with triple-glazed windows, zinc-clad dormers and recycled slate roofs.

Internally, the houses are designed around generous, light-filled living spaces, with large windows making the most of views across Lomond Park and the surrounding city, and glimpses of the sea.

The project is being developed with Mackenzie Residential, led by Jill Gunn and Alasdair Mackenzie, with Konishi Gaffney leading the consultant team.

Construction of the first four houses is now substantially complete, with the second phase due for completion in early 2027.

Lovely garden setting for a new extension using reclaimed stone paviors from the site as cladding. We are also using cork insulation and timber fins over an existing uninsulated 1960s concrete building. Developed in collaboration with our engineer clients, Allt Environmental Engineers.

Kieran had the pleasure of presenting our initial design work to the community at Meldrum & Bourtie Parish last week.

The proposals are a radical re-invention of the church building which dates back (in various guises) to 1684. We are lifting the sacred space up to 1st floor level and inserting community spaces on the ground floor below including a new hall, community kitchen and meeting spaces. To make space for this we are extending the church with a new entrance which will house the main stair, lift and toilets.

We’re starting this week a likely 2-year process with the community in Oldmeldrum. And looking forward to working again with Dan Rous. Photo credit is also Dan.

You can watch Kieran’s presentation and the discussion here.

This week we visited Hutton Stone for (our best ever) CPD with the team, starting at their yard near Berwick in the Borders before travelling down into Northumberland to see one of their quarries in operation.

We were taken around by MD Marcus Paine on an incredibly valuable and interesting visit, giving us a detailed understanding of the journey from extraction to finished product. We saw first-hand how blocks are cut, processed, and finished, and explored the wide range of textures and finishes available.

What stood out in particular was the efficiency and integrity of stone as a material: extracted directly from the ground with minimal processing, it offers a robust, low-carbon solution for architecture.

A hugely insightful day, and one that will directly inform our approach to designing with stone going forward.

We are pleased to have received planning permission for this rooftop extension to a single storey house on our very own Constitution Street. The building is 80m from our office door so site visits during construction should be an easy commute!

The existing building is a single-storey stone built former warehouse constructed around 1870. The timber frame extension sits lightly on the existing heavy masonry base, creating a clear dialogue between old and new. By day, it reads as a refined addition to the street. By night, our ambition is for it to glow softly from behind a timber finned facade. Check it out here.

We are seeking a Studio & Practice Manager to support the next phase of our development following recent competition wins.
For more information see the job posting here.

After a long planning run, we’ve now secured Building Warrant approval for this extension to a ground floor flat in Portobello.

The proposal replaces and reworks the existing outshoot, stitching new structure into old. A courtyard pulls daylight deep into the plan, while a long, linear kitchen links the main building to the garden-facing bedrooms.

The client - a stonemason - will be hands-on with the cladding, which should give the exterior real depth and character.

More to see here

Looking forward to getting this one on site.

Konishi Gaffney have been working with Allt Environmental Structural Engineers on a low waste Enerphit style retrofit and re-use of an existing 1960s house.

Today we saw the former garden slabs being re-used as external cladding to the building. Full of life, warmth and colour. Other work includes external cork insulation and a whole new roof.

Sharing the good news that our Silecroft Beach Cafe project has been shortlisted for the Architects’ Journal, National Architecture Awards 2025. The project is up for consideration in the Leisure category.

Read more about the Silecroft Project here.

We’re delighted to share that Konishi Gaffney won silver in both categories we were shortlisted for at the Scottish Design Awards 2025.

Our Silecroft Beach Café received silver in the Public Building category. This distinctive coastal project, created in collaboration with Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Boyce, was beautifully photographed by Richard Gaston.

We’re also proud that our low-carbon houses at Glenelg were awarded silver in the Future Projects category.

Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you to the Scottish Design Awards, as well as all the nominees, for a fantastic evening.

Discover how Kieran Gaffney of Konishi Gaffney reimagines a historic Edinburgh cottage with natural materials, soft textures and enhanced connections to light and landscape. Explore the full article here.

We’re delighted to share that Konishi Gaffney has been shortlisted as finalists for the Scottish Design Awards 2025.
Our Silecroft Beach Café has been recognised in the Public Building Award category. This unique coastal project was developed in collaboration with Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Boyce and has been beautifully captured by photographer Richard Gaston.
We’re also pleased to announce that our low-carbon houses at Glenelg have been shortlisted for the Future Projects Award, alongside our colleague Mike’s private project at Loch Awe.

We’re delighted that our Jessfield Terrace residential project has been featured in the March 2025 issue of Homebuilding & Renovating, in a beautifully written article titled “In Full Flow.” This thoughtfully designed home in Edinburgh’s Trinity neighbourhood showcases our studio’s approach to modern home design, residential comfort and adaptable living spaces.
As local, award-winning Edinburgh architects, we were honoured to work with clients who valued a collaborative and creative design process. Their kind words about our service and architectural approach are quoted in the article—now available to read in print and online.
You can explore the full article here, which highlights how our design integrated the existing structure with sustainable interventions, natural light and a strong connection between architecture and landscape.

Last month, Konishi Gaffney received planning approval for a pair of off-grid, low carbon homes in Glenelg, a remote coastal community in the Scottish Highlands, with views stretching across to the Isle of Skye. Designed with a light touch on the landscape, the project sits on a peat bog and avoids the use of concrete or steel entirely.
The scheme includes a 250m² home alongside a smaller 125m² neighbour. Both properties will be constructed using timber frames, zinc roofs and suspended floors on stilts—an approach that eliminates concrete foundations and significantly reduces the carbon footprint.
This modern housing project reflects our studio’s ongoing commitment to sustainable architecture, low-impact construction, and sensitive residential design in rural Scotland.
The design was recently featured in the Architects’ Journal. You can read more about it here.

Last week, we welcomed students and tutors from the MEng Engineering and Architectural Design programme at the Bartlett School of Architecture to our Greyfriars Charteris Centre project in Edinburgh. The visit included a tour of the building and a talk from our team, offering insight into the design process and the challenges of working within a complex heritage context.
It was a pleasure to share our approach with such a thoughtful and engaged group of future architects and engineers. The Greyfriars Charteris Centre, a key example of our work in public and cultural architecture, provided a fitting backdrop for discussion around adaptive reuse, conservation and community-led design.