Buildings

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Slimbridge Wildfowl & Wetland Trust (WWT), South Gloucestershire

We have been invited by the Trust on several occasions to build a variety of landmark structures at their site in Slimbridge, but also on a couple of sites elsewhere in the country.

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Kingfisher Hide, 2008
We were first invited by Slimbridge WWT to run a natural plasters weekend to teach staff the skills to transform a kingfisher hide that had been built and help them blend the building into the surrounding natural landscape.

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‘Back from the Brink’ - Cob Wetland Mammal Viewing Gallery & Otter Holt, 2009

As part of a larger project 'Back from the Brink', we were contracted to build a cob and timber frame viewing gallery to house the new exhibition of wetland mammals on the site. The cob walls in combination with a timber frame structure supports a living roof of wild flowers and are finished with a lime render and earthen plaster.

The design, conceived by Simon Rose of Slimbridge WWT aimed to be of the landscape in which it was located; the Trust wished to employ a more natural building method in line with its conservation philosophy, reflecting its immediate surroundings and local materials.

The project also supported the work of artists/crafts people from the wider South West incorporating sculpted timber work from both Doug King-Smith and Richard Ward-Leitso of Devon.

'Back from the Brink' was funded thanks to a legacy from the late Raymond Victor Safe, Viridor Credits Environmental Company, The Garfield Weston Foundation, The Dorus Trust, The Olive Herbert Charitable Trust and WWT members.

With this build project they were successful in making the shortlist for The Sustain Magazine Awards in 2010 for category Sector One: Construction

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‘Pondzone’ - Timber Frame Educational Space, 2010We were once again invited to be part of the exciting new developments on site, this time as part of their new amphibian breeding grounds, which included a play pond for younger children. Working with Julian Edmondson of Slimbridge WWT, we were contracted to build an exciting timber frame teaching structure to provide an educational space for visiting groups and a place for visitors to examine there pond dipping findings.

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Green Health Enterprise, Shipley Park, Heanor
Cob Garden Shelter, 2005
Collaborating with Green Health Enterprise (formerly Green Health Partnership), a mental health horticulture & arts based charity, we worked closely with a small group of their clients to build a cob garden shelter which was to be a blank canvas for further community arts projects. Funded primarily by the Arts Council England 'Grants for the Arts' the project incorporated a number of artists' workshops including mosaics, woodcarving, stained glass and metalwork.

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Wythenshawe Park, ManchesterCob Education Space, 2006A collaboration between Manchester City Council and Wythenshawe Park's Horticultural centre, we built this space to provides a starting point for further educational projects on site. Rackhouse and St Aidens primary schools were invited to participate in workshops to help build the sculpted cob bench as well as assist artists Cherry Cheung and Angela Sidwell with carving the entrance posts and weaving the willow and hazel shutters

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Community Composting Network (CCN)

Grow Your Own Building Project, 2003

Funded by the New Opportunities fund through the Seed Programme and in kind funding from the CCN member sites, The Grow Your Own Building Project was an innovative touring project where we worked with a number of CCN sites holding a series of educational cob workshops to raise awareness of sustainable building and living. Open to a diverse range of people from the community, each project was left with a beautiful sculpted structure of practical benefit to the partner sites, serving as a public example of the benefits of sustainable building.

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Offshoots Permaculture Project, Burnley

Bee Hive Cob Oven & Seating Area, 2003

Offshoots requested a demonstration cob seating area with cob oven that would compliment their existing on-site sustainable buildings.  Inviting members of the local community to participate in a series of cob workshops to help build the shelter, it is now used by the site for celebratory events. Their on site bee hives inspired the theme of the oven.

 

Crossways Community Recyclers, Lancashire

Cob Meeting Space, 2003

Located at a large day centre for adults with learning difficulties, clients were invited to work with us to help us build a small cob meeting space to shelter volunteers from adverse weather and provide a feature building for community events held at the centre.

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Friends of the Earth, Portsmouth

Cob Seating Area, 2003

Based at a community allotment site, the group invited us to build a sheltered seating area working with children from a local junior school. Close to the sea, the design included many nautical elements, including decorative fish, shells and an octopus holding up the back of the bench.

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Newcastle Countryside Project, Staffordshire

Semi Circular Cob Seating & Shelter, 2003

N.C.P invited us to build an open sided shelter to house discussion groups and shelter visitors from adverse weather. The walls and seating included a geology display to reflect the industrial landscape and history of the Apedale valley.

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Falmouth Green Centre, Cornwall

Cob Potting Shed, 2003

Working with a number of different volunteer and user groups, a beautiful sculpted potting shed was constructed to be used as part of a herb cultivation project. Cob was made using the material cut away from the banking to create a flat site for the building. Granite stone for the foundation came from a quarry a couple of miles away, and cedar round-wood timber for the roof from the Duchy of Cornwall's estate. Workshop participants worked vigorously on the building and included our oldest cobber so far at 86! The sculpted roots and tree window complimented the sheltered sylvan setting.