news from the hockerton housing project

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(1) What have the Grand Turk & a French school got in common

HHP has received a particular diverse range of visitors over recent months. This has included a group of 10 Foreign & Commonwealth Officials visiting the East Midlands. The attendees came from as far afield as Montevideo (Uruguay), La Paz, Turkmenistan, and Grand Turk (administrative and political capital of the Turks & Caicos Islands in the Caribbean). Let’s hope they took back some sustainable thoughts back to their postings. In March we hosted a visit from a French school from Jura next to Switzerland, who were visiting England and wanted to see HHP as part of sustainable development in their curriculum. In all we have run over 30 events at HHP since the beginning of the year including:

For more information about visiting HHP and booking onto advertised tours see http://www.hockerton.demon.co.uk/guidedtour/index.html or contact us direct to discuss a special visit for your group. This could be a team building event, straight forward tour, workshop or dedicated learning tool for students/pupils- call Nick on 01636 816902 or email hhp@hockerton.demon.co.uk) . We are very flexible and open to suggestions – so please don’t be afraid to ask!

You can also use HHP as a rather interesting venue. Costs will be subject to level of use, HHP input, etc. Call to discuss options and prices.

Please note that our next events for 'open' booking are:

Standard Tour - Saturday 18th June 2005
Master Class (full day event) - 14th July 2005
Sustainable Community Workshop (full day) - Saturday 2nd July 2005
Standard Tour - Saturday 16th July 2005
Standard Tour - Saturday 24th September 2005

HHP has been running workshops for some time for groups and individuals interested in setting up their own sustainable communities. These ‘Know-How’ workshops allow attendees to share HHP’s experience and each others’ knowledge to help them take further steps towards their plans and dreams.

In March we facilitated a workshop for a dedicated group from Sheffield. The Burngreave Community Action Forum were considering the possibility of incorporating low cost/ low energy housing into the local authority plans for an area where wholesale demolition of existing housing has just taken place. Burngreave is a multi-ethnic, inner city area of multiple deprivation and they are trying to make sure that quality, low maintenance, low energy housing is available in the future for local people at an affordable cost. Some members were interested in the possibility of a sustainable community, others in possible self build and others aren't really sure about what possibilities there are, so arranged visits to different schemes to enable them to be more definite in our requirements before trying to present any ideas to the Sheffield City Council planners.

The short piece below was written by one of the attendees for a local free community newspaper, ‘The Burngreave Messenger’.

The Hockerton Housing Project is the UK's first earth sheltered, self-sufficient ecological housing development. When you arrive, it's also invisible. Set on 20 acres of reclaimed Nottingham farmland, the only hint that five homes are there is a black line at the crest of a bank – it transpires that these are solar panels. Earth sheltered indeed.

The Hockerton folk generate their own clean energy, harvest their own water and recycle waste materials, causing no pollution or carbon dioxide emissions. The homes themselves act as huge storage heaters: taking in warmth during the summer into its massively insulated shell, through their beautiful south-facing glass frontages. This keeps them warm and cozy throughout the winter – and means zero heating bills! They were still warm when I went into one of the units, and this was in March.

The glass fronts face onto a hundred metre lake, stocked with fish and, in the summer months, also stocked with a gzillion children. A reed-bed system at one end feeds into this – just to rub in the fact that reed-treated sewage is as clean as its possible to be. (And close-up, you can't smell a thing – unlike normal sewage treatment works, which you can smell from miles away!)

When the Hockerton team built the project, they had to muddle through a lot of the problems alone. Since then, the technology has become widely available, and the know-how much more widespread.

This project is 'sustainable community' incarnate: environmentally, socially and economically. Surely the powers that be would be falling over themselves to make more developments like this, no?

So – can anyone think of anywhere south-facing, where there's a hill, where maybe we could have rows of zero-heating-bill, affordable eco-housing? Oh crikey! Wouldn't Woodside be perfect!

If you would like to arrange a similar workshop for your group or you would attend as an individual or small group for an event open to anyone, then please contact Nick White on 01636 816902 or email hhp@hockerton.demon.co.uk. We have a few places left on our next workshop on 2^nd July. Otherwise we will soon be advertising a new date for September.

· Discuss ideas and plans that you have with experts in low energy housing, renewable energy systems and social structures

'Sustainability in Practice' is an innovative educational experience developed by the Hockerton Housing Project (HHP) for young people, to learn about the problems of sustainability and discover some of the solutions. The 'problem solvers', typically in Years 5 & 6, explore different topics; Water, Shelter, Energy, Waste, Food, Bio-diversity plus a mapping exercise. A half-day visit is sufficient to cover three of these topics and an associated mapping exercise. All activities take place at the Hockerton Housing Project (HHP) site near Newark, with all necessary resources provided. An associated Resource Pack has been developed to provide teachers with a summary of all the activities and how they link to National Curriculum (KS2). HHP aim to make a visit to the project an educational experience for young people (and of course their teacher’s) which is unique, fun, exciting, developmental and even life changing!

“A great link has been made with an organisation who offers very professional and accessible opportunities to learn about important issues” (Jill Walker, Year 5 class teacher)

“If I was asked to go back again I would say yes because it was beautiful and intriguing. I loved it there.” (Matthew Walsh, Year 5)

Our aim now is to expand the sustainable educational activities at Hockerton Housing Project (HHP) for school children. This will increase the ability of those involved to take real steps toward more sustainable behaviour.

The initial development of the programme was supported by the SEED programme (National Lottery). This funded the development of the programme, preparation & artwork for ‘Resource Pack’ and the costs of running visits for a number of local schools to December ‘04’.

We are now seeking funding to continue to implement the programme for approximately 24 classes a year for primarily Nottinghamshire based schools.

So far this year we are grateful to have received funding from Vencel Resil (see http://www.hockerton.demon.co.uk/news/dec04.html for more information) and Bradford & Bingley to cover a number of school visits. However we are urgently seeking new funding for several more schools to visit both this term and on an ongoing basis.

N.I.T.S is made up of Drama, Dance and Singing workshops which lead to a performance. They are suitable for beginners and for experienced performers. The play is partly structured and partly improvised. Most of all the sessions are fun, an ideal way for young people interested in theatre to spend part of their school holidays.

N.I.T.S & HHP are also planning a full week workshop, Building me a Future (raising awareness about green issues) from 29^th August to 2^nd September 2005.

This spring we had a follow up survey of the water vale population on the HHP site. Mark Woods from nearby Brackenhurst College (part of Nottingham Trent University) supervised the survey this year and last year.

There appears to be a rapid rise in the population of the main site ponds, which supports the evidence that the habitat is very suitable, with plentiful forage and low predation. The water vole population of each pond is probably at, or near the maximum capacity that can be sustained. Further evidence to support population rise is the presence of burrows and food remains at two new ponds within the site. However there were some unusual population changes in some of the newer ponds which have resulted in plans for a more detailed study over two breeding seasons. Brackenhurst staff feel there is much merit in carrying out the work and may further the understanding of water vole ecology.

A stunning new sculpture has been added to the HHP site. It was designed and made by David Clements, Blacksmith at Settle, North Yorkshire. It was commissioned by his sister Helena for her husband’s 40^th birthday. The couple live at Hockerton Housing project in Nottinghamshire, a Zero CO₂, sustainable housing development. The only specification was that it must be made from recycled materials in keeping with the Project’s ethos.

David took his inspiration from the reed bed which the sculpture stands beside, within sight of the couple’s bedroom. The sculpture stands 6m tall and includes 2 bulrushes, an iris and pendulous sedge. The piece is beautifully proportioned and moves gently in the breeze just as the living bulrushes below it. Made from aluminium, copper and stainless steel, it requires no paint and will weather gradually.

David constructed the bulrush heads from copper water cylinders, the leaves are scrap galvanised channel from a trailer manufacturer and the stems are made from old scaffolding poles. The iris is also cut and fashioned from a cylinder with copper piping forming the stems. The sedge is fashioned from stainless steel reclaimed from an old dairy. The structure is set in a teardrop shape heaped with blue Cullet glass from Pilkington’s – recovered from a glass furnace.

David’s sculpture and the reed bed are at one end of a lake in front of the five houses, diametrically opposite a wooden bridge made by another sculptor, John Whitehead. The site also has a number of living willow structures and also large stones which the group hope will one day be part of more artistic works. The houses themselves are earth sheltered and can only be seen from the Southern aspect. The site as a whole demonstrates how we can reduce our impact by first minimising energy use and then harnessing renewable energies. Reusing and recycling materials is also fundamental.

Practical principles come first but the aesthetics have followed and art and music are never far from the place. David’s sculpture reflects these beautifully and demonstrates his abilities as both a sensitive artist and a craftsman.

Green Moves is a dedicated advertising website that helps to sell homes that are more eco-friendly than conventional homes. It has been set up in response to the lack of such sites on the Internet and the apparent lack of focus on the environmental performance of homes by existing advertisers.

Green Moves is a limited liability company that will reinvest profits back into the development of the site to improve the service to our customers and in due time seek to award small grants to help promote the cause of eco-friendly homes.

The book for busy people who want to reduce their impact on the Earth's resources - and save cash into the bargain!

Bite size chapters
These cover a range of topics including reducing waste, energy efficiency, home, DIY, garden, food, time off, work, finance, travel, birth to death, activism and a Directory of resources.

What you can do
Practical advice for pound-stretching planet-savers: home-made cleaning products, no-cost energy efficiency measures, budget organic vegetables, and how to shop on the cheap without costing the Earth.

Real life case studies
Inspiring examples of individuals who've greened their lifestyles - and saved cash in the process.

This book explores the link between ‘sustainability’ and ‘community’. It’s based on ten years of research – presenting data (including 120 photographs, 50 diagrams and 30 tables) from twelve cohousing communities in Canada, the US, New Zealand, Australia and Japan.

‘Sustainable Community: Learning from the cohousing model’ provides in-depth and insightful information for participants in the cohousing, ecovillage, sustainability and communities movements. It is well known that such activists face a scarcity of literature from which to draw ideas and inspiration. This book will help fill that void.

Graham Meltzer is said to be the world’s leading expert on cohousing. He is an architect, writer and commercial photographer who consults, researches and lectures in environmental and social architecture, housing and communalism.

Details about the book, including some excerpts, are available from the author’s web site www.grahammeltzer.com.

News for March to May 2005

(1) What have the Grand Turk & a French school got in common