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A Self Build Ecohouse


A Self Build Ecohouse
A Self Build Ecohouse
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 Description
 
A mother and daughter (Jenny and Maggie) realise their dreams of building an ecohouse, the Gatehouse, for themselves. In the spirit of collaboration, which was sustained throughout the project, they, together with Andrew Yeats and Eric Parks of Eco Arc architects, and their project manager, share their perspectives on the project.

This is a four page article. First published in November 2008


Extract:
Deciding to build an eco-house with my mother, Maggie, generated a surprising number of shocked responses from friends and family. They thought Maggie to be too old (she was only in her late 50’s) for such a challenge, and that she would cramp my life choices. Few understood how our skills, ideas and dreams complemented each other. Maggie had explored the idea of living in existing communities and we both met with others interested in establishing new eco-co-housing schemes. But we realised we did not want to wait for the slowness of collaborative enterprises and that living together would provide enough challenges, and entail new ways of working together as it was.

We have taken a very pragmatic approach to the build. Inspired by the Centre for Alternative Technology and the Autonomous House, we started with a utopian vision which was quickly scaled down. Our choices have been very much shaped by financial and practical limitations and a desire to complete the project so that we could get on with living the way we wanted to. We were determined to prove that older people, and those with full-time jobs, could still self-build and be eco. Although we had a sizeable budget it was also only slightly more than the average house price (which stood at £219,262 in June 2008) and we had no back-up plan.

This budget bought us a small (tenth of an acre) trianglular plot in rural Leicesterhire, near Melton Mowbray. By facing south the house makes the most of passive solar heating through large, ‘A’ rated timber-framed windows, with thick ...

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The Green Building Bible Green Building Bible, fourth edition (both books)
These two books are the perfect starting place to help you get to grips with one of the most vitally important aspects of our society - our homes and living environment.

PLEASE NOTE: A download link for Volume 1 will be sent to you by email and Volume 2 will be sent to you by post as a book.

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