The above projects were formed on the basis of Linda's research as shown on webpage: www.eco-designs.net/research-findings.html + the practical theory of her report, shown in essence below:
Current Projects
Although forming Eco-Designs in 2004, it took four years to bring in the first two ecological design projects.
Summer 2008 bought:
1) Clients with a Grade 2 listed office building in King's Lynn - which needed a complete revamp to meet current DDA and commercial building compliancy, and an Eco-Office extension to accommodate the expanding staff numbers of a busy practice.
2) Clients with a woodland site which they hoped to develop sustainably, "The Tree Ark Project".
The clients decided to sell their site, and having formed a community in proven need of affordable housing, the project proceeded without a site.
Details of these projects will be displayed online and updated as they proceed. (The element upon which everything was dependent was the websites & writing all the articles needed to express how each part fitted together to form a whole.)
The following document is the first press release to go out on Friday 21st May 2010:
The above was written before the press release, all the other articles on this page are updating this previous situation.
N.B. Next big job is to run links to ALL those used for the research into the Ark Directory... So, sorry to anyone not yet listed with accreditation & acknowledgement for all your information, and/or support or following, but you will be listed just as soon as time allows... its been incredibly hectic!
Summer 2008 bought:
1) Clients with a Grade 2 listed office building in King's Lynn - which needed a complete revamp to meet current DDA and commercial building compliancy, and an Eco-Office extension to accommodate the expanding staff numbers of a busy practice.
2) Clients with a woodland site which they hoped to develop sustainably, "The Tree Ark Project".
The clients decided to sell their site, and having formed a community in proven need of affordable housing, the project proceeded without a site.
Details of these projects will be displayed online and updated as they proceed. (The element upon which everything was dependent was the websites & writing all the articles needed to express how each part fitted together to form a whole.)
The following document is the first press release to go out on Friday 21st May 2010:
The above was written before the press release, all the other articles on this page are updating this previous situation.
N.B. Next big job is to run links to ALL those used for the research into the Ark Directory... So, sorry to anyone not yet listed with accreditation & acknowledgement for all your information, and/or support or following, but you will be listed just as soon as time allows... its been incredibly hectic!
Land to Float an Ark?
The Tree Ark Project is a rural, regenerative, sustainable community living project, formed of a group of rural friends from across Norfolk, who share similar environmental concerns, who want to live in a totally self-sustainable manner as a 'show & tell' community.
Many of the group have proven need of the affordable housing which will be provided on site, but finding a Parish site has proven difficult for the group, as they are not from one single parish.
The Tree Ark Project is a NPD, and is not looking for prime development land, as they follow the guidelines of such proven ecological designs as shown by The Permaculture Organisation and Transition Towns.
Founded by Linda Beamish, a consultant for www.eco-designs.net, the community are hoping to arrange a Community Land Trust for the site, to ensure that the affordable eco-homes are kept for the community of the parish in perpetuity.
The plans for any site, will depend upon the size of the plot, and the needs of the existing community or Parish, although the main key proposals remain inherent for any site.
Affordable eco-homes.
Homes will be constructed of earth/clay/straw-bale/timber/stone/lime (all natural building materials to any site), and will be constructed by the group themselves, along with teams of others who wish to learn natural building techniques. (The College of West Anglia Professional Construction team wish to be involved in such a project as an extension of their Sustainability curriculum, and other local natural building schools will be contacted once a site has been located.)
(An offer to film a documentary of the project has already been made by Jacki Hill-Murphy of Pink Ginger Films www.pinkgingerfilms.com )
A large site will aim to provide similar services as showcased by The communities of Findhorn in Scotland, C.A.T in Wales, The Lammas Project, The Hockerton Housing Project, and The Low Carbon Trust of Brighton - which also has an Earthship community centre.
The community will follow the guidelines of The Co-Housing Organisation and offer co-operative housing, which will be constructed by the community themselves, along with students and groups of volunteers and friends. Wherever the community is sited, it will interconnect with the needs of the parish, and ensure that their needs are consensually included, catered & cared for.
An ethical and environmental trade centre will be constructed to provide a cafe (selling organic, locally produced food, cooked freshly on site), internet will be available, and local arts & crafts will be sold.
Visitors to the site will be able to find out about why we need to live sustainably, and be able to find out about the alternative renewable resources which are currently available. (Fairly traded Franchises & co-operatives will also provide site revenue – as proven eco-designs will be available to buy “off the shelf” through Ark's Eco dedicated consultancies.)
The Eastern Daily Press' Environmental Correspondent, Tara Greaves, rang me about the press release which I had emailed to this local newspaper (The EDP covers the whole of Norfolk/the Eastern Region of the UK).
Tara very kindly made our press release into a full blown article. Comparing us with "The Good Life" was a really good idea, because it dispelled a lot of scepticism and was easy for people to understand.
Through the above article, we gained the two projects (numbered 3 & 4) in the list of current projects at the head of this page.
Tara also made a really generous wish to our community in the comments section of page 18 - concluding her comment with: "... And if the friends behind the Tree Ark Project have the will and the wherewithal to create their community, let us hope that somewhere in the county there is a piece of land with their name on it."
(How totally awesome was that!! :D) - "Thank you very much" to Tara Greaves... Without whose understanding, I would not have been able to show by example, how we can quickly turn around a site into a potential scheme. (As it was, I had stitched the bulk of the proposals together within 3 weeks!)
N.B.
Projects 1 & 2 came in via this years Earth Day Exhibition held at Burnham Deepdale, 22nd April 2010. More news on this on my blog-site webpages:
http://www.anearthmother.com/new-blog.html - "Newsletter" +
http://www.anearthmother.com/blog-for-earth-day-22nd-april-2010.html + photo's
My eternal "thanks" to all landowners who had the faith in me, to allow me to prepare the sketch proposals for their sites, and which in turn have allowed me the examples I needed to show - and to 'tell"! - as aimed through our slideshow on http://www.eco-designs.net/how-can-eco-designs-help.html
(And on the homepage of http://www.globalarkprojects.com )
Hope that this is all starting to flow a bit better now - it always help to be able to show an example of how the proposals can be practically formed - and now, finally, I can!
(More news on Eco-Designed office extension to be added later.)
Please note that I am confined to the level of information given until we have proceeded further.
Many thanks to all who have helped - especially my ex-tutor from college, who has very kindly edited (& proof-read) several of the above articles for me, and the Happing Shop (A charity in Stalham), who helped to cut my press release into shape.
I aim to write an acknowledgement for everyone who has helped me to form these proposals, but I have been so busy forming the proposals, that I am afraid I have had no time to do more than I have to date - acknowledgments are listed, and the full research used for the proposals is listed on: http://www.eco-designs.net/research-findings.html
Thank you so much for your interest & support, if you would like to know more, or if there is any comment/suggestion, please either post your message on the forum page, or email me directly via info@globalarkprojects.com - and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
(N.B. Proposals have been formed consensually - and my grateful thanks to ALL family & friends who have helped me to form them ALL!)
Linda.
Tara very kindly made our press release into a full blown article. Comparing us with "The Good Life" was a really good idea, because it dispelled a lot of scepticism and was easy for people to understand.
Through the above article, we gained the two projects (numbered 3 & 4) in the list of current projects at the head of this page.
Tara also made a really generous wish to our community in the comments section of page 18 - concluding her comment with: "... And if the friends behind the Tree Ark Project have the will and the wherewithal to create their community, let us hope that somewhere in the county there is a piece of land with their name on it."
(How totally awesome was that!! :D) - "Thank you very much" to Tara Greaves... Without whose understanding, I would not have been able to show by example, how we can quickly turn around a site into a potential scheme. (As it was, I had stitched the bulk of the proposals together within 3 weeks!)
N.B.
Projects 1 & 2 came in via this years Earth Day Exhibition held at Burnham Deepdale, 22nd April 2010. More news on this on my blog-site webpages:
http://www.anearthmother.com/new-blog.html - "Newsletter" +
http://www.anearthmother.com/blog-for-earth-day-22nd-april-2010.html + photo's
My eternal "thanks" to all landowners who had the faith in me, to allow me to prepare the sketch proposals for their sites, and which in turn have allowed me the examples I needed to show - and to 'tell"! - as aimed through our slideshow on http://www.eco-designs.net/how-can-eco-designs-help.html
(And on the homepage of http://www.globalarkprojects.com )
Hope that this is all starting to flow a bit better now - it always help to be able to show an example of how the proposals can be practically formed - and now, finally, I can!
(More news on Eco-Designed office extension to be added later.)
Please note that I am confined to the level of information given until we have proceeded further.
Many thanks to all who have helped - especially my ex-tutor from college, who has very kindly edited (& proof-read) several of the above articles for me, and the Happing Shop (A charity in Stalham), who helped to cut my press release into shape.
I aim to write an acknowledgement for everyone who has helped me to form these proposals, but I have been so busy forming the proposals, that I am afraid I have had no time to do more than I have to date - acknowledgments are listed, and the full research used for the proposals is listed on: http://www.eco-designs.net/research-findings.html
Thank you so much for your interest & support, if you would like to know more, or if there is any comment/suggestion, please either post your message on the forum page, or email me directly via info@globalarkprojects.com - and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
(N.B. Proposals have been formed consensually - and my grateful thanks to ALL family & friends who have helped me to form them ALL!)
Linda.
