The charity Knocknagael’s aim is to develop the Smiddy Field, into a green hub for Inverness that will get more people in our community spending time outdoors and growing and enjoying local produce.
Estimated Cost
£260,000
The charity Knocknagael’s aim is to develop the Smiddy Field, a new asset acquired by the community, into a green hub for Inverness, that will get more people in our community spending time outdoors and growing and enjoying local produce.
The overall project involves the creation of an allotment site providing allotments for individual and community use, and training space; a community orchard, areas for biodiversity enhancement, recreation, and food growing. This will be a transformative project for Inverness that will deliver community resilience, health, social, environmental and economic benefits.
Our aspiration is to provide a model and example of how we can create more sustainable places in urban areas, integrating local food growing with health, wellbeing, green space and biodiversity.
We worked for several years to secure a community asset transfer of the 8.28-hectare Smiddy Field, formerly part of the Knocknagael Bull Stud Farm. During the development phase, focus has been on asset acquisition, project design and community engagement. We are now at the exciting stage of moving to the delivery stage, and funding support will enable us to deliver the infraestructure required for the project.
Purchase of the smiddy field was completed in January 2026 and worked on the designs for the site during 2025. The plans have been prepared by landscape architects Iglu Studio an inspiring company from Edinburgh, who worked alongside engineers Narro Engineering and Harley Haddow. Planning permission was received in November 2025.
Delivering the infrastructure will require a major investment. We are working to deliver the first phase this year prioritising the essential infrastructure (access road, entrance, car park and SuDS). But funding is required to deliver phase 2 focussed on the allotment infraestructure, including creation of a hedgerow, access to services and site furniture.
The overall design has been developed to create a space that integrates nature, fosters community engagement, promotes environmental stewardship, and enhances user experience.
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