Ecomotive has been successful in a sealed bid offer for a Bristol City Council owned site in Eastville, Bristol. Ecomotive plans to create 6 or 7 highly sustainable eco-homes through self finish on one part of the site.  Ecomotive is also supporting the idea of a Community Land Trust (CLT) project to delivery shared equity homes on part of the site so that there are housing opportunities for those with different financial capabilities. 

Ecomotive are currently assessing the site in relation to the design concepts, material usage and aspects of delivery.  

Once Ecomotive has a clear proposal for the site, we will send out details to all members of the forum.  It is likely that Ecomotive will sell some of the eco-homes off plan. So if you would to know more in due course, please sign up on the log-in tab above.

GRANT SHAPPS: BUILD YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION WITH BRICKS AND MORTAR

Housing Minister Grant Shapps today called on the country’s aspiring self-builders to make a housebuilding revolution their New Year’s resolution

Self-builders are already Britain’s second largest housebuilder, and account for one-fifth of Britain’s new homes each year, but for far too long the aspirations of ordinary people to build their own home have been thwarted by barriers and red tape. 

These obstacles have led to the UK having one of the lowest proportions of new homes built by self-builders in Europe – so Mr Shapps has pledged to end self-building as the preserve of the privileged few, and enable aspiring self-builders to put building their own home at the top of their New Year’s resolutions.

Barriers that stand in peoples’ way will be torn down - including a complex and bureaucratic planning system, regulatory burdens, and lack of access to land and finance

A new Community Right to Build will offer communities the chance to give the green light to new developments without the need for specific planning applications

This could be local people working alone to build their own homes, or entire communities coming together to build the homes the area needs

The new right offers people a solution to their housing needs in villages, towns and cities up and down the country. If communities support locally led proposals they can help to regenerate abandoned urban sites or build homes in countryside communities, ensuring they remain vibrant places to live and not museums.

Grant Shapps said:

“Building your own home should not be the preserve of a privileged few – I want to break down the barriers that many aspiring self-builders often come up against.  That’s why I’ve asked experts at the National Self Build Association to work with us to develop an action plan to make it easier for people to build their own homes, whether on their own or as part of a community effort to build a whole new neighbourhood. 

“But the action plan will also look at how more people can be helped to make the most of the opportunities to build their own homes.  For example, the new Community Right to Build will put power in the hands of local people to give the go-ahead to new developments in their area – and could open the door to a whole new generation of self-builders.  

“This will give a real boost to those who have long dreamed of building their own home, but have never been able to do so.  I want these people to build their New Year’s resolution with bricks and mortar, and make 2011 the year they make their housebuilding dreams a reality.”

The self-build sector is already important to growth and housing supply – with self-builders completing between 17,000 and 20,000 building projects each year – so making it easier for more people to build their own home will provide a welcome boost to the housing market.

Mr Shapps has today asked the National Self Build Association (NaSBA) to work with his officials to develop an action plan to boost the number of self-builders across the country – and address the common barriers aspiring self-builders face, including:

Availability of land – including making public sector land available for house building;

Availability of finance – working with lenders to ensure self-building communities can get the finance they need; and

Availability of expert support – how self-builders can support communities looking to build the homes they need, and how those new to self-building can be supported

Bristol is moving forward a proposal for an umbrella Community Land Trust which is planned to assist community land trust (CLT) projects across the city, and possibly further afield. 

A CLT development has a number of long term benefits to the community. One is that the community has an equity share in the buildings or land that the CLT has governance of.  

There are three potential sites which could see the development of the first CLT for the area.  These are Victoria Park Baptist Church, Park Street in Totterdown and on Fishponds Road beside Eastville Park.

 If you would like to know more about CLT's and what happening in Bristol, there is an opening event on the 3rd February 2011 in Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, BS1 3QY.

 Open viewing of proposed first sites, and ways you can get involved between 3pm and 7pm, with two presentations, one at 3pm and one at 6pm.

 If you want more info on Community land trusts in the meantime, see http://www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk/

Update August 23

There will be 11 neighbourhood hubs taking part in the Bristol Green Doors weekend, each with maps, displays and information about thehomes open in each area - and some are also providing refreshments. The hubsare at Wild Goose Space, St Werburghs; Redland Park United Reform Church;faithSPACE, Southville; Westbury-on-Trym Library; Bristol Holistic Building Forum (Bishopston and St Andrews); Thali Cafe, Montpelier; Thali Cafe, Easton;Thali Cafe, Totterdown; Thali Cafe, Clifton; Long Ashton; All Saints Church,Fishponds; St John the Baptist Church, Frenchay and Knowle West Media Centre(Saturday only). Thanks to all involved for helping with these.

And of course there are also our three central hubs at the Architecture Centre, Create and at Coexist with information about what is happening city-wide.

Posters and flyers are now available and are being distributed around the neighbourhoods. Maps are coming soon. Watch the website- http://www.bristolgreendoors.org/homes-2/- for details of the 52 homes which will be opening on September 11^thand 12^th.

Last week Kate presented the Bristol Green Doors to Carbon Leapfrog a national charity set up to provide free professional advice and support on running low carbon projects. We are waiting to hear, but hope that they will be able to help with advice about taking Bristol Green Doors forward.

Neighbourhood Watch has provided Bristol Green Doors with some really useful tips and advice for the householders opening up so many thanks to them. 

Ecomotive is at Glastonbury Festival again this year to help celebrate its 40th Birthday.

If you are attending the festival and would like to visit us, we will be in the Croissant Neuf field.

We have exciting information on Bristol projects and community land trusts, as well as advice and info on sustainable building, code for sustainable homes and energy ratings. 

Not only do we have all the information and advice that Ecomotive can provide, but we also have info on Ecological Land Cooperative (ELC) check out: www.ecologicalland.coop;  We have the Rowanbank crew who provide workshops and courses that inspire and empower, check out www.rowanbank.org.uk.

We also have 'The Bright Light' providing shadow puppetry, intimate stories of life and connections with the places we live, displayed through the timber structure.

We have been building the timber structure over the last few days, and this year we have been supported, by Travis Perkins with some FSC ply sheets for the roof, Tom for all the amazing plants, and the lovely people at Pieminister to keep us fed.  Land Logic Timber provided us with the timber for the structure, and Solarsense have kindly provided us a solar PV panel and kit, to power our tools and for lighting throughout the festival. 

We are of course in the Croissant Neuf field where everything is powered from renewables. 

Bristol Hustings

RIBA hustings taking place in the South West region in the run-up to the 2010 general election.  These events are an opportunity to engage with candidates, and raise issues relevant to architecture and the built environment.

The Bristol event will take place on Friday 9^th April at the SS Great Britain with guests arriving from 6:00pm for a 6:30pm start.  Details below.

The Plymouth event will take place on Friday 16^th April in the University of Plymouth Roland Levinsky building.  Keep an eye out for further details in the next few days.

These events are FREE and open to all: opinion formers, RIBA members, students and the public, although places must be booked in advanced. 

If you would like to join us for these exciting events, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Attendees wishing to ask the panel a question can submit their question in advance by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or by submitting their question at the start of the event.  Those unable to attend can also submit a question to the panel at the above address.

An overview of the event will be published at www.architecture.com/hustingsSW after the event.

Right to Build from Lynton Pepper on Vimeo.

The renovated 1960's office building has won the Regen South West Green Energy Award for 'Best Housing Scheme' for 2009.

Jackson Moulding and Paul Brana-Martin received the award on behalf of the the Quoin Common Hold and Ashley Vale Action Group from David Wheeler of the Homes and Communities Agency.  Jonathan Dimbleby hosted the prestigious awards ceremony in Bath which recognised excellence across the South West in a range of categories.

The old office building which has sat empty for about 10 years is nearing completion.  The building stands in the centre of the Ashley Vale area of Bristol and is the final phase of the self build re-development of the SGB site.  The building now comprises six flats and the ground floor is a communty space and workspace.

The building has been fully wrapped up with 120mm of external insulation, all the windows have been changed from old metal single glazed to timber and alu clad double glazing, with window reductions on the north side and south side having balcony additions.

The whole building will have its hot water and heating powered by two 26KWp wood pellet boilers and 27m2 of solar thermal panels on the roof.  There is also 2.4KWp of PV panels filling up the remaining roof space.  Ecomotive has assisted in obtaining over £60,000 of funding towards the cost of the energy systems which is costing £90,000 to supply and fit.

Glastonbury not only survived a few thunder storms, but is being classed as one of the best years ever, and that's by Michael Eavis. 

So in between Lily Allen and Bruce Springsteen, loads of people visited the Ecomotive stand in the Croissant Neuf field.  We had a couple of sofas, for people to sit down and discuss through their ideas about self build, and we had a large wall-hanging self build survey which over a hundred people found the time to complete during the event.  Overall we had a great time, and it was great to speak to so many enthusiastic people wanting to build their own home.   

The Ecomotive space included information on Future Roots, Pollination, Land Logic Timber, LAMMAS and the Ecological Land Co-operative.

We want to put out a special thanks to Rupert of Land Logic Timber who provided all the Douglas Fir to create the structure.  Not only is it beautiful wood, but it is locally sourced, and was sawn up by Rupert's portable saw mill.  So if you need any timber don't forget to contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it at Land Logic Timber .   

We also would like to thank the following:

Folia for providing all the plants and flowers, and especially to Tom for bringing them to the site. 

Solarsense for providing a solar electric system to charge the power tools.

Travis Perkins for providing FSC ply sheeting and fittings.

B&Q for insulation samples and solar lighting.

Essential Wholefoods for providing snacks for the construction team. 

Ecomotive will be at Glastonbury Festival this year based in the Croissant Neuf field, situated in the Green Fields.  If you are going, please come round and see us, and tell how you are getting on with finding land, doing own your self build or meeting with others who also want to do their own project.

 We are aiming at using the space to get those interested in self building to meet others, kind of like a hub, where you can exchange ideas and advice and to work out problems.

Self building as part of a larger group.

We will also have an interactive map of the UK, which will be used for people to identify the areas they would like to self build if they would like to be part of a group project. You can then link up with the other people who have identified the same areas and create your own group.

So if you are at Glastonbury this year please come and find us.