Senan Kelleher’s approach to self building might best be described as incorrigible. After working on a four-and-a-half-year renovation project that involved countless weather-induced delays and 13 dislocated shoulders, Kelleher is already planning another project early this year.

He explains: “I’ve always had it in my head and heart that I wanted to renovate and build a house, and although this project was more of a challenge than I expected, with my second house — which will be a new-build property — I can put right the mistakes I made with the first one. I certainly wouldn’t renovate on this scale again.”

This is a shame, as Russland Mill, Kelleher’s monumental undertaking on a wind-lashed lochside in Orkney, has been transformed from a semi-derelict 19th-century water mill into a spectacular three-bedroom home on three levels.

Kelleher, a surveyor for Casey Construction, an Orkney-based company, and construction project manager for the forthcoming Pier Arts Centre in Stromness, first spotted Russland Mill about nine years ago while on a fishing trip. This “big lump of a building” was essentially a huge farm shed, yet the dramatic location fascinated him.

Fortunately, it was on the market at the time and because it was on a site of special scientific interest (SSSI), Kelleher managed to secure the purchase of the three-quarters-of-an-acre site (including the mill) for £11,500. “I got it for a song because there was this perceived difficulty around installing a septic tank in the back garden.”

After a year-and-a-half of “steeling” himself, Kelleher didn’t spare on ambition when it came to the huge renovation job. “I was pretty ruthless in terms of the demolition work that had to be carried out and then the realisation set in that, ‘Oh God, I’ve got to build all that again!’ It took weeks to flatten most of it and years to re-build it.”

The priorities were getting rid of the asbestos and cement roof structure. Then the walls had to be demolished by hand in order to save the original stone for use in the reconstruction.

Kelleher’s plans for Russland Mill included the creation of a large arched window in the south gable, incorporating windows on the monolithic west wall, and demolishing and re-building the north gable, which had been finished in “horrible rough cast”. In fact, only the east wall has been retained with all its original openings.

Kelleher carried out most of the re-building himself, including all the concrete and block work and the steel tying. This one-man band approach meant that progress was slow and the job was further hampered when Kelleher fell off the scaffolding and injured his shoulder. “I then had successive bouts where I couldn’t do any work and eventually I had to have an operation because I had dislocated my shoulder so many times — it was about thirteen times. Eventually I just started getting other people in to do a lot of the work,” he says.

One of the key members of Kelleher’s team was an archaeologist who came up to Orkney on a dig “and just stayed”. “He’s an expert dry stone and stone builder and he did the majority of the stone work. One or two square metres a day would be good progress, but he did such a great job you would hardly know that the wall has been re-built.”

In addition, a local three-man team erected the beautiful Caithness slate roof. And about a year and a half after the work began, a two-man joinery team carried out most of the interior work. “When the joiners came, it became very exciting because the house changed every week. When I was here doing it on my own, nothing seemed to change from one month to the next. And the quality of tradesmen in Orkney is very high. There is a misconception that skills have died out in the Isles, but that is just not the case,” says Kelleher.

Finally, after four-and-a-half years of hard graft, he moved into Russland Mill. “You could probably say it’s a bit of a mixed bag of design ideas and amendments,” he says modestly. “I liked the fact that it was a B-listed building and I wanted to respect its history. But I’ve never really liked buildings that look old on the outside with rustic, country-kitchen interiors. I wanted to do something that was subtle and modern with no glaring statements.”

As a result of this “subtle and modern” approach, Russland Mill features a range of simple, open-plan and light-filled living spaces defined in stone, timber and a natural colour palette.

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