News from Lancaster Cohousing

Exciting biking times for Pete and Dawn

2012-03-12T15:33:00.000Z

At the summit of the new aqueduct access ramp

Another milestone has been achieved from our wish list. The really great thing about this milestone is that we didn't have to spend a penny and we didn't really have to break a sweat. Until last week anyone living at Halton and cycling into Lancaster who wanted to access the tow path either had to brave the main road as far as the canal bridge or get off at the aqueduct and carry their bike up about eighty steps from the river side cycle track. British Waterways has now built a ramp joining the cycle track (which passes our Cohousing development on the other side of the Lune and goes from Caton to the town centre) to the canal towpath. This gives another off road cycle/walking route with easy access to Freehold, the Gregson, Dukes, Town Hall, Whale Tail, White Cross and points South ie to the University. Dawn and I tried it out, there's quite a slope to it but we found it easy enough to cycle up without stopping. There is a bit of a temptation to whizz down at top speed so they have installed some of those zig zaggy fence chicanes to slow you down. The bank on the uphill side is bordered and secured with what looks like very environmentally friendly coir matting. On the downhill side the fence looks very sturdy and part of it is set on top of some very impressive gabions. A few trees had to be felled during construction but British Waterways have made sure that more have been planted to replace them, so not only is the ramp just perfect for our purposes, but very environmentally friendly to boot.
Pete

Me and my new bike near the footings of my new house

Moving from the Peak District to Lancaster to be part of cohousing has been momentous in many ways. One of the transformational leaps is the fact that I am now confident to get my pushbike out of hiding and cycle everywhere I feasibly can. Because Lancaster is such a bike friendly town I’m pretty much cycling everywhere and this has had a huge impact on my health and my attitude to life in general. The new ramp is further icing on my cake.
I passed another milestone yesterday by walking to work in the spring sunshine. We are renting in Halton for this interim build period and my homeopathic practice is at Dacrelands Natural Health Clinic at Skerton. It only took me 40 minutes to get there. So my choices have increased. I generally cycle or I could catch the bus. Now I have added walking to work to my repertoire and it’s only another half a mile to the centre of town. Rarely these days does the vehicle get an airing and I have cut my fuel bills down by at least half.
And we move into our house in August. Oh joy of joys!
Dawn
www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Walls and roofs progress rapidly but slope stabilisation remains at a standstill

2012-03-09T18:31:00.002Z

Scaffolding going up on terrace C as the blockwork gets going

Terrace B roof trusses to the rear. No more progress on the slope stabilisation though as the material is still too wet

The gabions need to be built up at the same rate as the slope so that it all ties together

The Common House is being roofed ready for its sedum covering

Inside unit 6u, an upstairs flat

Upstairs windows are now being fixed - doors are coming from the factory in Latvia next week, and then Terrace A can be made weathertight. Rendering and interior works can then progress.

The Common House roof from Terrace A

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Its all about the roofs - and the orchard

2012-03-04T23:29:00.002Z

Here are some photos of the Terrace A roof going on... first the blue liner, then the tiles are placed in handy piles, and finally on Wednesday 29th Feb it looked like the final tiles were being put in place.

Meanwhile the solar panels are going on to the mill roof...

... and Terrace F is rising above the ground at the upper carpark level, with one storey completed at ground level on the other side.

See the St Valentine's Day and St David's Day updates for much more detail on the build.

But while the contractors struggled with the weather, and walking about on site required boots against the deep mud, cohousers took the opportunity on a Sunday in February to work and socialise on site.

This area is a former piece of field that we are going to turn into a small orchard. The trees will not be planted until next autumn, but putting a weed suppressing barrier down now will make planting easier and give the trees a better chance. Our apple trees have been grafted locally at Middlewood Farm, and most are northern varieties.

We used reclaimed bricks to hold the barrier down, but pushing a laden wheelbarrow of bricks up a steep plank is an acquired art, and some did not acquire it....

We also had to clear a few hawthorn bushes. Shifting the trunk of the largest took 2 people, but the smaller branches were cut up and used to create a windrow - a temporary shelter for small birds and animals, but which will gradually rot down and produce a mulch to be used around trees or hedges.

But in fact, although we do like to contribute towards our long term goals, these work sessions are also a great opportunity to get to know each other better, and having a break and a chat now and again is a very good idea.

Kate

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Progress on site - St David's Day 2012

2012-03-01T22:31:00.001Z

The first of our triple glazed windows have been installed in terrace A

Chris considers how to enable wheelchair users to open the windows - a key requirement of the Lifetime Homes standard. Some modifications to handles may be required

The Common House roof is on

The kitchen will be in the far corner

The south facing window looks out over the river

This is terrace B. The roof trusses were lifted up by crane earlier in the week. The first two houses are two-beds, the more distant ones larger three-beds

Blockwork has started on Terrace C - whilst the wind post (the vertical object in the middle of the wall) still needs redesigning to reduce thermal bridging

The main gabion wall is progressing. The stairs will go up to the left where the digger is.

But the roller sits idle. The clay is still to wet from the rain earlier in the week to be successfully compacted. Meanwhile this is holding back the start of Terrace D as the material is stored there.

The site for the electricity substations was excavated today

The clay roof tiles look good on the north side of Terrace A

Jon
ww w.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Progress report from site - St Valentines Day 2012

2012-02-15T13:58:00.001Z

The roof structure on Terrace A is now virtually complete, ready for tiling to start next week

This close up shows the progress on the timber framed south elevations. Almost ready to start fitting windows.

There have been some difficulties with compacting the clay which is being put back into the slope below terrace E. If it is compressed too much the water gets driven to the surface and the lop layer becomes to wet. But as of today we think these problems have been resolved, and filling can continue, until it rains!

We have nearly finished shifting the subsoil that is required to complete the "butterfly bank" at the far end of the site. It is important for that area to have subsoil and not topsoil at the surface. Top soil contains too many nutrients and would support vigorous grasses, whereas what we want is a wide diversity of plant species and patches of bare ground, which will benefit invertebrates.

A few days of warmer dry weather has allowed the block work on Terrace F to get moving again

Unfortunately we are nowhere near being able to reopen the top public footpath, the weather related delays having taken their toll.

This is Terrace F from the top. Plot 28, to the right is still available.

The roof is now being installed on the Common House

Note the different colours of blocks on the upstairs flat bed loft walls. The paler thermal blocks transmit less heat and will prevent an unacceptable thermal bridge through the roof.

Inside the Mill building, work is well underway to create the showers and toilets

...although the discovery of a couple of unexpected windows means that a few minor changes to the works specification have been required.

Jon
www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

It's February! We have railings, roof trusses and unexpected windows...

2012-02-02T17:38:00.000Z

The railings along the riverside have been completed - nice industrial look, and will not clog up with debris if the water ever does come this high...

The builders have finished excavating the cliff face by Terrace D. I was interested in the various markings indicating where the finished pedestrian level will be, as they have had to dig down to put underground services in. I was also wondering how terrace D people will want to use the protruding wall nails - hanging baskets perhaps? or attachments for wires for climbing plants?

Trusses have appeared on houses 2-5 in terrace A, but the builders are frustrated by the lovely sunny but freezing weather, which means they cannot lay anymore blocks as the mortar would freeze. So they are unable to finish block laying to install the roof timbers for the flats at each end.

I do admire the scaffolding, so much more efficient and safe than the sort of scaffolding I used when I was a builder in the 1980s...

A similar delay on building up the walls for the guest rooms etc.

Shock arrival of the windows on Monday. The builders are not quite ready to install them.

Our neighbour Ralph from Out of the Woods, who is one of the contractors bidding for installing the common house kitchen. He is showing the range of eco-samples for the surfaces. Despite the happy smile, he is dismayed by the high price of eco materials in comparison with non-eco. My understanding is that is all to do with lack of demand, and if only more people would buy, the price would come down.

Kate

http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/

Roofs, Terrace E foundations and the all important view from plot 5

2012-01-26T20:17:00.000Z

The first of the roof timbers were put into place this week. We have two types of roof - the first, seen here, will have insulation at rafter level, because in this case it is accommodating the bed loft of the upstairs flat

In the middle of the terrace we are using trusses which have been manufactured off-site. Here the insulation - half a metre of it - will be a ceiling level. The two different types of roof have to be lined up with great care.

Meanwhile the first batch of triple glazed windows is ready to leave the Greensteps factory

Up at Terrace E more ground has been temporarily dug away. It is hard to believe that this is where the top footpath once was, and will be again within a few weeks. It is about the worst possible time of year to be having to do this work. The builders are having to content with large quantities of wet clay.

But despite the weather the foundation upon which these houses will sit are progressing well

Meanwhile the scaffolding on terrace A shows what the view from the balcony of the remaining house, plot 5 , will be like. The picture above is looking upstream. The plans for the 'boathouse' opposite include a slate roof, sandblasting the stone walls, and new windows. The roof truss top left is on its way to the neighbouring house roof, by the way!

and this will be the view from the same balcony looking downstream (south west).

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More materials arrive on site!

2012-01-12T18:30:00.002Z

The first roof trusses arrived on site yesterday. Note the bobtail construction, which allows for a thick roof insulation layer without thermal bridging

Also on site are the manhole rings which are to form columns foundations on which Terrace E will stand

The materials have arrived for reinforcing the slope behind terraces C and D. The green baskets will hold gabion stone.

Meanwhile the boilerhouse subcontractors have started work in the Mill. This is the bank of three backup boilers that will handle the peak load, as well as providing cover when the woodchip boiler is being serviced.

Work on Terrace B is progressing well despite the weather, now that there are more bricklayers on site.

... and Terrace C will soon be ready for the floor slabs to be cast

The location of Terrace E is very muddy - now that work has started on the slope reinforcement

This explains why the temporary footpath closure was needed...


The excavation here has to go right up to the site boundary and will get deeper by the day...

Jon

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Last day of construction work before Christmas

2011-12-22T18:19:00.002Z

As well as being the shortest day, today was the last day of work on site for a while - except for Chris and Pete that is, who are continuing to sort things out inside the Mill.

Whittles are now on holiday until 3rd January and their ground works subcontractors Pyes have taken a slightly longer break, and will be returning later that week.

So before I switch the computer off for Christmas(?) here are a few photos of where work was up to this afternoon...

First floor joists have now been fitted in the first three houses. You can see the coat of plaster where they are fixed to the blockwork - that is there to ensure that airtightness is maintained. Getting the floor joists in will give the bricklayers something to stand on so the walls should rise more quickly again in the New Year

Terrace C foundations are underway. The black pipes sticking up are for the district heating. Note also that the guard rails along the river bank have been fitted over the past couple of days.

This is the gable end of building 2, where the guest rooms will be.
We were hoping to reuse the wall that was here but it ended up having to be rebuilt.

Looking up Forgebank Walk from outside plot 10 (no 14)

The attenuation pipe is finally in on terrace D. No more pecking away at rock thankfully. There is a manhole still to go in outside plot 17 (no 21)

The new owners of the Forge have kindly agreed ;-) to let us dump a pile of rock in their parking spaces whilst we work out how best to use it! This has been pecked out from Terrace D. It is the right sort of rock to go into gabions but unfortunately most of it is the wrong size for that, and even a bit big for drystone walling!

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Arnside YHA 3 years on...

2011-12-11T21:59:00.005Z

Three years ago (was it really that long ago!?) 11 households met at Arnside YHA to discuss a new potential site for our project - "Halton Mills"; we discussed the opportunities, the risks, how we could afford it, our negotiation strategy, etc.

This weekend 22 households met en-masse to sign our Agreement to Lease for their homes on that very site. Others not able to attend the meeting have signed their agreements in advance, making a total of 34.

We have traveled a long, long way in that time! Negotiations for the purchase, designs for the site and our homes, planning permission, tenders for the construction, grant applications, bank loan searches and subsequent negotiations, and now to the build.

The end is in sight. Hurrah!!

Fiona and Patrice started off the proceedings with a some uplifting music to get us in the mood, followed by careful thinking to make sure we had the numerous dates and signatures in the right places. Note: Taking videos is NOT one of my skills ;o)

In the meantime the children were either occupied by balloons or by... zzzzz....

Luke.

http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/

Progress on site - latest pictures

2011-12-01T22:31:00.002Z

It's a while since I've posted any pictures from the site so here's an update of what's been going on over the past few weeks:

The rock bolting on the cliff face next to terrace D has been completed.
The rock can now be left exposed rather than being covered in safety netting.

These are the last few rock bolts going in. The stone buttress just above here will be pointed.

There is still some work before this trench through the rock is deep enough to accommodate the surface water attenuation pipe. At least the higher than expected rock levels will mean that less concrete will need to be used in the foundations.

The rock on the right is to be broken up smaller and used to fill gabion baskets

The foundations for terrace F are taking shape

...and a huge manhole is being constructed to take the sewage down from Mill Lane to Forgebank Walk

this shows the square at the east end of terrace B

in terrace A, boxes for the doors and windows have been installed

...whilst those for the other terraces are being made in the Mill.
You can see the wood chip store and boiler house being built in the background

Nothing happening at the boathouse yet - but we are sorting out the Environment Agency consent for the viewing platform which will run along the south side of the building overlooking the river

At the far end of the site we are exposing the rock face adjacent to the emergency turning area and picnic site, and removing all the trees growing out of it so that it can be properly examined and made safe

Jon

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

We Really Dig the New Diggers and Dreamers Review

2011-11-30T21:23:00.001Z

The book launch for the Diggers and Dreamers Review of Cohousing in Britain was held last Saturday evening in the Novel Cafe in Lancaster. The book was co-edited by Chris who has been involved with the publishing collective for many years.

I really enjoyed the evening chatting to people about cohousing and the book itself. Luke and I spent a fair few months browsing the Diggers and Dreamers site wondering if any of the communities would suit us, and indeed if we would suit them, before we decided to take the M6 north and join Lancaster Cohousing. So it's great to see that Diggers and Dreamers are still providing inspiration and direction to people who might be wondering about the route to living in an intentional community as we were four years ago.

The venue was perfect, it has a play room upstairs and a pedestrian street outside, it was a hint of unintentional cohousing without the houses! Fergal and his friends took advantage of the street outside to play on scooters. The vision of adults chatting with tea and cakes and children playing on the pedestrian street gave us a little glance into the future of life in cohousing.

Elizabeth

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Timelapse footage from the site... seasons changing, homes rising

2011-11-21T23:57:00.001Z

There's lots to be said for a diverse community. Most of us looked at the telegraph pole on site and (if we thought anything at all) thought 'look, there's a telegraph pole'. Frances, on the other hand, thought 'that would be the perfect spot to mount a timelapse camera'. She sorted out the kit and found several brave/foolhardy souls to volunteer to shin up the pole every few weeks and change the camera's battery and memory card.

And this is what her vision is beginning to deliver. We now have a fantastic record of activity on site during the late summer and autumn of 2011. The first video shows some site clearance and the Common House beginning to rise out of the ground. The second one shows early construction of Terrace A.

But what's also lovely is the view of the trees and the river, with leaves falling and shadows lengthening as the season changes. Next time the light falls that way and the trees look like that, we'll be living there looking at them.

jo

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Easy peasy vegan squeezy

2011-11-21T23:24:00.001Z

Pete with his giant homegrown pumpkin

One of the things we have started to focus on as a group is how we will eat together in the cohouse once we have moved in. We're aiming for at least three evening meals a week, maybe (ideally) more, maybe some breakfasts, brunches and lunches as well. Thanks to Mark, who has spent time visiting other cohousing communities in Scandinavia and the US, we know quite a bit about what works well and what doesn't. The main lessons from others are that a) food is central to community -- we have to get it right, and b) it's not easy to get it right -- every community is different, and we need to be prepared to learn and adapt as we go along.

There's a long-standing commitment to cooking and eating predominantly vegan food at our communal meals. There are lots of good reasons for this but it's also something that causes many of us some anxiety -- I have to cook food that 40 people will enjoy eating *and* it has to be vegan? How is that ever going to work?

Lucy and Eliza saying 'how much garlic?!'

So last Friday, Mark (who picked up a lot of his vegan cookery skills when he lived in Italy) offered to host a participatory demo afternoon at his house to show some of us how it can be done. I was very keen to go -- I love food, and I love cooking, and I haven't eaten meat since I was a teenager -- but I'm not a vegan: indeed one of my mottos is 'there's no such thing as too much cheese'.

We started with a huge pot of chickpeas, a giant pumpkin from Pete's allotment, and three bulbs (yes, bulbs!) of garlic. Also involved at various stages, were rice, pasta, red peppers, nori, tofu, bouillon, olive and rapeseed oil, peas, potatoes, beans, lentils and chilli... not forgetting those traditional English ingredients: parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. We made six or seven different dishes over the afternoon, and ate them all as we went along. I think we all had different favourites, but my personal favourite was the chickpea and pumpkin stew, which had smoky chilli plus slow cooked *and* deep fried garlic. Delicious. Lucy was looking after baby Eliza so couldn't do much chopping, but that did mean there was someone to write all the recipes down!

The deep-fried garlic gets added to the chickpeas

By the end of the afternoon... well, I believe Mark could cook tasty vegan food for 40 people with no problems at all. As for the rest of us, especially those who are used to relying on meat, fish or cheese for our strong flavours, I think we might need to work on our confidence -- and get used to starting to cook a whole lot earlier in the day than we're used to.

Having said that, Miles and I used some of the leftover pumpkin the next evening and cooked pasta for Pete and Dawn using an adapted recipe of Mark's, adding some toasted sunflower seeds and serving it with some kale with lemon and (yet more) garlic. If I say so myself, it was pretty good. I'm still not a vegan, but in a world where the US Congress will bow to big industry pressure and allow frozen pizza to be classified as a vegetable on school dinner menus, I want to be doing More Of This Kind Of Thing.

jo

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Build Photos

2011-11-12T21:34:00.001Z

Here are a few photos of the site from Friday 9th November...

Cohouse rising up

Terrace D rockface

Concrete foundation in terrace B

Underpinning of the wall next to the Cohouse

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Keeping the rock face beautiful

2011-11-03T19:30:00.001Z

The houses in terrace D at the east end of the site look out on a sandstone rockface to the north (and over the river to the south). The problem with building houses at the bottom of a rockface is we have to ensure that residents and their visitors are not put in danger from possible rockfalls!

A common way of dealing with this is to cover the entire rockface with wire netting - not particularly attractive, as this photo from a different site shows. Unfortunately this is the type of solution that the first contractors we asked to look at the risk proposed... In our case the stone wall above the face would have been covered in net too.

However we now have a more acceptable proposal (below) which looks at the risk that each particular section of rock presents and uses bolts of varying lengths depending on the condition of the rock. We are now looking to progress a solution of this type as quickly as possible, so that we can get on with building Terrace D.

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

It's November and the first house walls are six foot high

2011-11-02T21:10:00.003Z

Hot off the press, these photo's were taken just before today's progress meeting with the contractors and design team. The walls of terrace A are now rising - one leaf of the cavity wall goes up, then the insulaltion is fitted with the basalt cavity ties passing though it, before the other leaf of the wall is built.

Terrace A is actually a couple of weeks behind programme at the moment, but enough progress has been made to get a good feel for this part of the street, and also to see that there will be a good view from the north bedrooms of terrace A over the bike store to the fields and trees beyond.

The next picture shows the retaining wall that will be at the back of the common house toilets and guest rooms being propped whist it is underpinned. The floor of the common house main building is in the foreground.

Meanwhile the rock anchoring to the retaining wall behind Terrace F, the 3 storey units, has been completed. This wall isn't going anywhere!

Terrace B is also making progress. These are the foundations of plot 10:-

The weather hasn't been the best, and there is a lot of water about. Fortunately the fishing season is now over and no one else needs to pass through the site

We've had some sample gabion baskets made up. The one on the left is made up of the crushed remains of the buildings we demolished whilst the one on the right is from sandstone from the site. Unfortunately there is unlikely to be enough material from the site suitable for putting in gabions, especially as it is unlikely that we will be able to use brick at the front of gabions due to the risk of weathering...

so we are also looking at using some imported material. In the photo below we have limestone in the gabion basket to the front and sandstone in the one to the rear. Despite the fact we are in a sandstone area in Halton Gorge, the nearest quarries, around the Kellets, are limestone. Ironically the sandstone has to be transported from a quarry near Chorley. On the left is the reclaimed sandstone. We are looking in more detail at the costs, aesthetics and environmental impacts of the various options before taking a decision.

http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/

The missing link - at the Lune Aqueduct

2011-10-29T16:43:00.001+01:00

Five or ten minutes cycle ride downstream from Forge Bank, another construction project is well underway. British Waterways are carrying out various repairs and improvements to the Grade 1 Listed aqueduct which carries the Lancaster Canal over the River Lune.

If you are reading this and don't live in Lancaster, you might not know that both the river and the canal have tarmaced cyclepaths alongside them, but until now they have been linked by some steep and narrow steps.

Not only are the steps being widened...

but also a new cycle path is being built up a relatively gentle ramp to link the riverside cyclepath to the towpath...

...emerging just before the canal crosses over the A683 Caton Road on another bridge.

According to workmen on site, the ramp is due to open in January 2012

Why am I writing about this on the cohousing blog? Because once the new ramp is open, it will be much easier to cycle from Halton to a whole host of destinations close to the canal, including the Dukes Theatre, canalside pubs, the Gregson Arts and Community Centre, White Cross and the Hospital. The towpath isn't lit, so its not the first choice after dark, but the rest of the time it makes a excellent route to the whole east side of the city centre and beyond.

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Latest pictures from the site

2011-10-29T16:19:00.001+01:00

Okay, these photos are a few days old sorry - I only just got around to downloading them. Block laying above floor level started on Wednesday so look out for more pictures next week...

The common house - you can see a black heating duct popping up through the floor which will allow heat to be piped from the woodchip boiler and solar thermal panels on Halton Mill

The foundations have been laid to allow part of the building that will contain the toilets, laundry, guest rooms and play room to be rebuilt, this time with wheelchair access

Here's the surface water drain coming through the common house. We still have to fit electricity, heat, phones and TV alongside it. The sewer goes a different way, fortunately

This is an example of what contingency is for. We were going to reuse this gable wall, but having seen the state of the below ground section we are now going to have to rebuild it. Steps will go up to Terrace F from the right hand side of this photo.

At Terrace D the groundworkers are still removing rock, some of which will go in gabion baskets. The rock removal is expected to take 3 weeks.

At Terrace F, sub contractors are installing rock anchors into the existing wall so that we can reuse it confident that it was not on the verge of collapsing.

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Family friendly? Definitely!

2011-10-19T10:52:00.002+01:00

Overlooking the Lune

The Family Friendly Hotspots Report lists the postcode area of LA2, which encompasses Halton, as one of the top three places in England and Wales to bring up children.

Their analysis is based on a combination of factors including crime rates, earnings, house prices and access to good schools. Obviously there is far more to family happiness, but it is a good start. Rather randomly, the report used Galgate to represent the postcode area, but we think Halton is far better!

The Centre @ Halton

It is quiet in comparison, surrounded by lovely countryside with stunning Morecambe Bay only 3 miles away. There are acres of traffic-free space on our land for children to play on and explore, with a fabulous stream and rope swings just on the edge. The fantastic recreational facilities at the Halton Community Centre provide even more choices for those of any age.

View from High Road

There are a good number of facilities both in Halton and the local area. We have a GP surgery, small shops, chippy and pub. A Co-op supermarket, pharmacy and butcher exist in Caton, which can quickly be reached by bike. The local primary school, St Wilfrid's CofE, is rated as outstanding by Ofsted, whilst we also fall within the catchment area of several outstanding secondary schools.

We are certainly proving attractive and on the current count have eight families with young children and a three with young adults.

Halton and surroundings

Need I say more?

Luke.

Ancient Cave System found in Halton

2011-10-16T10:00:00.000+01:00

There was much excitement at Forge Bank last week, as the Lancaster Cohousing construction team broke through to what appears to be an ancient cave system. Initial exploration has revealed a mixture of what appears to be a series of small chambers interconnected with man made tunnels. Already some crude cave paintings have been discovered depicting scenes of stick men hunting bison like animals.

In order for work to continue on site the entrance has been stabilised by the construction team as can be seen in the photo below. A lockable gate is due to be fitted early next week to prevent animals and members of the public form entering.

Steve Wrigley, one of the Cohousing members and a keen potholer, is hoping to survey the cave system over the winter months. He is interested in hearing from local people with surveying expertise who would like to assist with this work. Caving experience is not essential, but the work will involve crawling through very wet and tight passages.

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Here comes the insulation

2011-10-08T22:36:00.004+01:00

The first of the has insulation started to arrive on site. We are using polystyrene in the floors, and also in the walls below damp proof course level. It's an oil-based product, but far better to use a little here, where we hope it will remain for hundreds of years, than to create houses which use more energy to heat than they could have done, every year, from now on. The white insulation blocks are 25cm thick, for the floors and the grey ones are 30cm thick, for the walls. Special thermal blocks are used where the floor and ceiling meet, to avoid creating a "cold bridge".

The pipes you can see popping out of the ground are for the various services. The big black ones are for the insulated district heat pipes. We are bringing as many services through the floor as possible, rather than through the wall because it is easier to keep the building air-tight that way. It's not that we don't want fresh air in the buildings, but we want it all to go through the 90% efficient heat exchanger, rather than leak in uncontrolled.

Also this week, work started on the Common House walls. Here are the recycled aggregate blocks arriving. They were due to be sourced from the Aggregate Industries plant just one village away in Nether Kellet - must double check with the contractors that they have actually been able to obtain blocks that were manufactured there.

Down at terrace D, a mini quarrying exercise is in progress, to make space for the services which need to be buried in the pedestrian street to the north of the houses

The future bike store is in use as an insulation store for now

This is plot 7u/d. You can see the rock was at an ideal level here. No need to dig deep and pour in lots of concrete, and no need to peck out lots of rock either.

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

The first (few hundred) blocks

2011-09-27T21:40:00.004+01:00

Quick update on progress on site over the last week or so...

Blockwork has started on Terrace A, although we are now waiting for the lintels which will bridge over the service entries and the engineering bricks to arrive on site. Finished floor levels will be three courses of engineering bricks above the top of the blockwork as seen here.

The common garden area to terrace A is small but has a lovely outlook

See the extra wide cavity, which for those of you in the know, will give a wall U-value of between 0.10 and 0.12

The Common House blockwork is ready to go. Note that the front of building 2 has now been pulled down to make way for the Children's room, toilets, laundry and guest rooms. The floor will be lowered to provide level access

Meanwhile at terrace D the building platform is being levelled. A report on the safety of the rock face to the right is pending - we plan to leave it looking as natural as possible

And at Heron Bank, the pile of rubble just gets bigger and bigger.

Jon

http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/

Another Elephant found on site!

2011-09-27T08:51:00.002+01:00

The following elephant was constructed by chance when the girls were playing in the river during the last gasp of summer.

Obviously they improved it once they noticed their accidental creation and then had a little rest after their hard work.

A little known fact is that mechanical elephants used to be built at Luneside Engineering; here is one outside the Mill doors. More information can be found here.

The late Colonel Teodor Benirski, who ran Luneside Engineering, created a "factory-in-a-garden" on the site of Heron Bank, or what we used to refer to as "the manager's house".

I hope that our common house terrace will have the same feel.

Luke.

http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/

Scything team in action

2011-09-23T19:18:00.001+01:00

All change on Butterfly Bank last week. Having done a days training in the Arnside & Silverdale AONB a few weeks ago we borrowed a set of scythes and hayrakes. On one of the better days, with help from a couple of other would be reapers from LESS we managed to give the whole bank a short back and sides.

The scythes are Austrian and are being promoted in the UK by Simon Fairlie from Monkton Wyld Community in Dorset. They are much easier to use than 'English' scythes - something to do with weight and balance. We borrowed them from The Lancashire Wildlife Trust who are getting together a North Lancs Meadows group and hope in the future to recruit a posse of volunteer reapers who would go out and hand cut small meadows in the area.

While I was sharpening one of the scythe blades a group of teenage lads went by the last one throwing me the comment of "awesome weapon!" as he passed. Next year we may be organising a 'Strictly Come Scything' party as I learnt from a friend at the Glasson music festival that scything was traditionally done to music - the last Piper in the North West being recorded as playing for a scything team in Ulverston in the late 1790's.

Chris

Down at the other end of the site in the mill garden, another set of people has been busy. Pete and Geoff prepared a bed for shrub cuttings, and Kate put in 28 flowering currant cuttings. Other passing cohousing members were surprised to see that flowering currant has berries similar to edible currant. No one tasted them!

Some of these passers-by were tempted to try their hand at some gardening work too. James was found a task which could be done without bending his bad back - cutting privet, and Pam and Gill took over removing the cut branches to pile on top of the windrow, which has suddenly become all green and leafy again as a result.
Kate

Progress update and more photos from the site

2011-09-21T20:01:00.003+01:00

The cycle path on the south side of the Lune is a good vantage point for checking out the action on site... click on the photos for bigger versions.

On the right is the east end of terrace B. The building platforms have to be compacted in narrow layers. This can only be done after dry weather as the material doesn't compact properly when it is wet.

If we were using more granular material the compaction would be an easier process, but then the 'muddier' stuff would become waste that it would be difficult to make use of anywhere else.

Over on Terrace A, foundations were being poured last week.

The severe gales (the remains of Hurricane Katia) did a bit of damage just above our site

Now we have concrete pipes on site rather than plastic ones. These are being installed this week. They are to collect the rain after a storm and discharge it slowly into the river, no faster than a greenfield site would, so that we don't contribute to the flooding of Skerton!

The roof of the sheds has been removed. It is due to be replaced with fibre cement - the planners have asked for it to be dark green rather than the paler grey which the group chose, but we still think it will look OK!

Space is tight and the crusher is back on site. All the concrete and brick from the old buildings can be reused as fill after crushing. This is where Heron Bank will be built.

Jon

The street starts to take shape

2011-09-11T21:23:00.003+01:00

The groundworks contractors are now working to form the street from both ends at once. Down at the far end of terrace D the rock face has been exposed at the bottom and and cleaned, and looks like it will form an even nicer back drop than expected

The retaining wall at the top of the rockface will remain more or less as it is now. The rockface is due to be inspected by and expert geologist to check nothing is likely to fall of it. Any smaller loose chunks will be removed, whilst if there are any bigger loose bits they may need to be bolted in place.

The late afternoon sun catches the rock face.... This is where the upstairs living 3 bed houses will be.

There may be a natural "bin store" area cut into the rock on the street part way along Terrace D. Sorry, it's not a great photo of that! We will have a better idea once a bit more digging has been done here.

Towards the west end of Terrace D some rock (in the centre of the photo) will need to be pecked out. We don't know exactly how wide the street will be yet. The line of the rock race we have uncovered is to be surveyed next week. Along the part of Terrace D which does not already have a stone wall above the rockface, the 1 in 1 vegetated slope will start from the top of the newly exposed rock face (which runs towards the bottom left hand corner of the picture). We don't know exactly how high this will be yet, but is looking like around a meter of vertical natural rock before the slope we will be building starts.

Meanwhile close to Halton Mill at the west end of the street the old cobbles have been removed and stockpiled for use in gabions, and the street adjacent to Terrace A is now close to its final level. The green door in the middle of this photo is where the communal bike store will be.

And here's a close up - the series of holes have been prepared ready for the underpinning of the storage part of what we know as "building 2" next week. This is necessary because the new level of the street is slightly lower than previous ground levels - to ensure all our houses are easily wheelchair accessible.

This was the moment when the engineers looked down a trial foundation trench for terrace A. It doesn't always take 4 men to dig one hole using a JCB. The verdict, the ground will be suitable after a little extra compacting, so the foundations of the Common House and Terrace A should be poured this week.

Finally, at the west end of Terrace F, the huge brick base of the former boiler house chimney has now been removed, revealing a stone retaining wall behind. We are hoping that there will be space in this recess to accommodate some very deep manholes which will take foul and surface water down from the upper level, under Terrace F, to the street. If this proves feasible it should save us some money.

Hopefully the next post will show more of the area around Terraces C-E. The big problem is safely accommodating all the material which is having to be temporarily removed!

Jon

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

The day the build started

2011-08-24T22:21:00.001+01:00

'You will always find me in the kitchen at parties'

'Video killed the radio star'

'Champagne Supernova'

Prize for the first person who can name the three bands without recourse to google!

The Reluctant Blogger

The day before build starts

2011-08-21T21:34:00.003+01:00

Two photos from the day before the build starts. The first showing one of the many great coastal views of Morecambe bay. Unfortunately if you look really close you can also see the Heysham nuclear power station!

The second showing the site office, up and ready for the construction team, who are due on site tomorrow. Frances and myself were on site Sunday evening setting up the time lapse camera which will hopefully provide some interesting footage as the build progresses.

Don't forget to have your favourite tipple ready tomorrow evening to celebrate the start of the build. The Lancaster crew will be celebrating at Fiona's.

Steve

Moving House

2011-08-12T18:28:00.001+01:00

Dawn's Big Move

So what lessons can we draw from Dawn's recent move from the lovely Peak District Village of Tideswell to Halton?

1. Book top removal man Chris Coates and his trusty Marshalls Hire van

2. Have a party the day before the move so you can co-opt the party-goers into loading your van the day after

3. Don't underestimate the amount of stuff you have and end up having to make two round trips, taking twelve hours and then running out of diesel 400m from your house with the van blocking the local mini roundabout in Halton

4. Don't forget to have plenty of room in your new house for all that stuff that is disgorged from the two van loads and remember to keep the kettle and brew kit handy for the workers!

So good luck with your moves!
Luv
Steve
(packer, unloader, broken down van rescuer and blog artiste)

Kite flying in Morecambe

2011-07-27T21:32:00.000+01:00

Catch the Wind

Need yet more reasons to move to Halton? The local ‘Catch The Wind Festival’ on the beach at Morecambe could be one. Chris and I went to it on Sunday 24 June. Of course there are the kites themselves, from small to large, and from silly (I especially liked the swarm of multicoloured 45cm ladybirds which just hopped on the beach), to naturalistic (hovering kestrels), to clever formation displays mimicking (far more sustainably ) the Red Arrows.

Formation kites

If you don’t yet have a kite of your own, there is of course a stall ready to remedy that lack – so no excuses!

Add to that Morecambe’s very own marching band, Baybeat and their dancers, with the newly-restored, iconic art-deco Midland Hotel in the background.
Do you play brass or drums, or ever thought you might like to learn? Whatever your age or ability Baybeat would love to have you, and give you the opportunity to strut your stuff.

Kate

Baybeat dancers

Baybeat and The Midland Hotel

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

The Happening @ Halton - with a few of us immortalised in clay

2011-07-15T23:32:00.001+01:00

Part of the Halton pebble mosaic

Last weekend was The Happening @ Halton - a celebration at our soon-to-be local community centre to mark the official opening of its new state-of-the art skate park, Multi Use Games Area (MUGA), children’s play area and other facilities. The weather was fantastic, and a whole range of events, activities and competitions had the Centre buzzing all weekend.

Friday 8th July was the official opening of the facilities by David Morris MP. This included the formal unveiling of a beautiful pebble mosaic, created by local residents, including a few future Forge Bank cohousers, during a workshop with local artist Maggy Howarth back in February.

The mosaic illustrates the history of the River Lune and the people who have used it and occupied its banks over the ages, from Romans to current day. All of us who took part had a great time, and it's fantastic to see the end result in all its glory!

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Champion trials rider - and Halton local - Ben Slinger visits the site (on his bike!)

2011-07-12T17:48:00.001+01:00

On Sunday 10 July, Ben Slinger, Halton's 'local hero', came to help us celebrate the start of our build with a fantastic on-site display of his trials skills.

Ben, 20, is a member of the GB Cycling Team and a former International Trials Cycling Junior World Champion -- and no stranger to the Lancaster Cohousing site, as he has used the Lune river bank alongside the site for many years to practise his amazing bike skills, which include hopping up steps and boulders on one wheel, six foot jumps, and fantastic spins. His professional trials bike display team has featured at many events and shows and made TV appearances on Tour of Britain, Sky Sports, Blue Peter and BBC London news.

Ben said: "It's been great to watch the cohousing project over the years as it's come through the planning stages. It's very exciting to know that it is going to happen. I'm proud to be a groundbreaking Halton lad, performing all over the world, and I'm proud that this project has chosen my village for its groundbreaking eco-design - hopefully it will be another reason for Halton to be world-ranking!"

We'd like to thank Ben again for coming along, he gave us a whole different perspective on the site. Amazing.

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Volleyball weekend

2011-07-05T22:59:00.016+01:00

Laurieston Hall

Last weekend 10 intrepid Forge Bank cohousers went along to the annual intentional community volleyball competition. Your Forge Bank team included: Chris, Mac, Maria Angeles, Fiona, Gill, Mark, Jon, Pete, Frances and Steve. The venue this year was Laurieston Hall, a long standing community dating back to 1974. If you want to know more about this fascinating community you could always quiz one of its early members seen here in a very fetching pair of designer glasses.

Laurieston Hall turned out to be a fantastic setting for a very chilled out weekend. The weather was stunning, the camp site idyllic and the company second to none. On Friday evening we were all welcomed with a communal meal, camp fire and a barrel of the local real ale. Team Forge Bank can be seen here keeping a close watch over the camp fire, an essential feature of any Scottish camping trip used to keep the midges at bay.

Our hosts laid on a superb array of meals and showed us all how easy it is to cater for 80 people at one sitting. Not only did the provide excellent main courses but we were also treated to home made bread, flapjack, biscuits and even ice cream using milk from their own cows. All this with such ease and efficiency, and at a cost of just £10 per head for the whole weekend.

As well as eating visitors had the opportunity to wander around the grounds which included a small loch side beach used for swimming, boating and fishing, a two-acre walled kitchen garden, lots of wacky straw bale insulated caravans, fantastic oak woodland, pigs, cows and, the piece de resistance, a wood fuelled sauna (insulated with straw bales) The later feature came complete with a small lake used as a plunge pool and saw heavy use from the Forge Sauna team of Pete, Mac, Chris, Maria Angeles and Steve.

On the Sunday a few of us got involved in some hay baling, helping the community gather in hay from one of their fields. This turned out to be a great way to end the weekend. It was very satisfying collecting the bales and moving them into the barn, and a nice way to help to the Laurieston community.

Oh I almost forgot - we did play some volleyball! Team Forge Bank managed to win two out of our four matches on Saturday. We did not make the semi finals on Sunday but came a credible 6th out of nine teams overall. Canon Frome snatched the trophy form the Brambles team in what was a very close final. However our team, some of whom had never played before, would have won the prize for the smartest team kit had there been one. Yes, it was very pink and yes, that is Mac dressed as a Wookie.

So if you think a volleyball weekend is all about playing volleyball, think again and sign up for next year's event. Finally I will leave you with an image of our top cheer-leading team doing what comes naturally...CHILLING OUT!

Steve

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Work weekend

2011-06-30T23:00:00.001+01:00

Well this is my first blog so I will keep it short and sweet:

Last weekend a number of us spent some time working on tidying up the site before the contractors take over. Our work supervisor was Pete and he soon had us clearing out flower beds, uprooting balsam, clearing out the mill and bagging up fly tipped rubbish.

My work gang (which included Charles and Judy seen above working hard) spent all day Saturday clearing out the flower beds in front of the mill, placing uprooted weeds on the cleared ground then covering the whole lot with heavy duty plastic. Pete assured us that in a couple of years time we would be able to uncover the plot and start planting.

The fruits of our labour can be seen in the next image which also includes foreman Pete clearing away our tools.

Steve (newbie blogger)

Green talking

2011-06-28T23:04:00.000+01:00

Our very own Dawn Keyse spoke to the Green Talk 2011 audience this month about Lancaster Cohousing's plans for zero carbon community living... check out her video below, or see the rest of the Green Talk programme of 'short talks, big ideas'. Fascinating stuff: we're in good company!

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

What's to be afraid of?

2011-06-13T20:30:00.001+01:00

Miles and I were on our way to the June General Meeting this weekend when our train from Oxford to Birmingham was horribly (in both senses) delayed by a fatality on the line. We missed our connection at New Street, and ended up getting routed via Manchester, eventually arriving two hours late.

Which in the normal scheme of things would have been a bleak experience, but we found ourselves sitting at a table with a lovely woman called Justine, who got chatting with us. We said we were moving to Lancaster, and she said 'but why would you want to move from Oxford to Lancaster?'

So we started telling her about Lancaster Cohousing, and it turned out she had never heard of cohousing, but was really interested in it. She makes programmes for radio and TV, and is currently working on a drama about a couple who have a house full of things that they can't bear to part with. We were laughing about that, as our house is up for sale and we are trying to decide what to keep and what not to keep, and she did a quick impromptu audio interview with us about our struggles with pants and socks and leaves and twigs.

We kept talking, and then she interviewed us again about why we are making this big move. If you're interested in our reasons, what we're excited about and what we're worried about, you can listen to the recording. And thanks to @savvyjustine for asking the questions and turning a long boring journey into something much more fun. If there'd been a trolley service, we'd have bought you a drink!

jo

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Spot the difference

2011-05-18T21:22:00.003+01:00

The last bit of the demolition was completed this afternoon when the contractors carefully cut through the flat concrete roof of the old toilet block on the end of the Mill building, before sending it tumbling to the ground.

Eventually a footpath, and the cycle parking for visitors to the Mill building, will sit on its footprint.

The brick pillar on the right hand side of the doorway is in better condition than we might have hoped, having been constructed completely independently of the toilet block.

The small 'stone' pillar at the end of the handrail in the top photo had to go though. It was decorative only, and was sat on the roof of the toilet block!

A job for another day will be removing the render from the exposed wall and creating the openings for the two windows we have ready to be installed in the ground floor workshop.

Now that demolition is over we can focus on making sure all our planning conditions are signed off, and the special conditions for the bank loan have been complied with, so that Whittle Construction can start the main building contract by the beginning of July.

Jon

Last day of crushing tomorrow

2011-05-12T21:16:00.000+01:00

For the last few days we have had a large crushing machine on site where terrace B is going to be. It's an expensive bit of kit to hire, so the demolition contractors have been working hard to keep it constantly fed with concrete and brick. It has a magnet to strip out metal for separate recycling and the whole time it is running someone has to stand over it pulling out wood, cables and anything else that shouldn't go through it. We now have a huge pile of what is technically known as '6F2' crushed hardcore - ideal for building up levels on the site where needed.

Now that all the floor slab has been taken up, the contractors are going to spend a final day crushing the last remnants of concrete and brick from the buildings, before the crusher is taken off site.

The exposed section in the last photo (the garage door is the entrance to Viper Imports) shows that the north side of the building was built onto the bedrock (bottom right). But the south side is a different story, with deep stone foundations. These need to be removed and replaced with compacted material so that when we come to put in our foundations we don't keep hitting the remains of old buildings.

Next week's job will be digging up the stone foundations and drains, and demolishing the old toilet block at the west end of the Mill.

Jon

Picnic on site on Saturday 21st May: all welcome!

2011-05-10T15:32:00.002+01:00

Lancaster Cohousing is getting under way! Come and celebrate Intentional Communities Day 2011 with us at Forge Bank, Halton, on Saturday 21 May.

We will be having a picnic, games and balsam-bashing* event from 1.30-4 pm on the land upstream of Forge Bank Weir** (or, if it's really wet, in the Centre @ Halton...)

All welcome! Bring any / all of the following: a picnic, a blanket, a ball, your gardening gloves!

More info from 07778 737681 or email info@lancastercohousing.org.uk

Fiona

* We have a lot of Himalayan Balsam on site, an invasive weed which can be a major problem as it smothers other vegetation. Our main method of control is pulling or cutting the plants before they flower and set seed -- known as balsam bashing.

** From the metal bridge in Halton, follow Mill Lane past the new houses along to Halton Mill, follow the path alongside the river past Lancaster Cohousing building site, keep going past the weir, up the steps, along the path, and you’ll find us! There will be a trail of balloons to keep you on the right path.

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

A clear view across the Forge Bank site

2011-05-08T14:04:00.002+01:00

Our site has been transformed over the last week as demolition contractors Pyes brought the walls of the redundant buildings down to ground level.

The picture shows a new view of the site of Terrace A taken from the pedestrian street with the Mill (with it's new roof) in the background.

The contractors were able to remove the main timbers from the building and put them aside for recycling into wood chip before taking the walls down. The site was buzzing with activity on Friday and Saturday with men picking through the rubble to remove more of the timber and steel for recycling.

Crushing is due to start on Monday to produce aggregate suitable for using in the foundations of our new homes. We are hoping the wet weather continues as it will make it easier to control the dust.

Parts of the of the building that was Halton Mill garage were made of stone and this is being kept aside for filling gabion baskets for the retaining walls we will need on site.

We'll be using some of the brick for gabions too and are busy trying to judge the right

amount not to crush.

The next job will be to remove the foundations of the old buildings, which will be less dramatic, but just as important, as we need to ensure that we have uniform ground conditions to build the new foundations and retaining walls on. It's a shame we couldn't reuse some of these structures, but we have no way of assessing how strong they are so can't take that risk.

The floor level of Terrace A will be at about the same level of the floor slab of the old factory building and this photo, taken from ground level, shows how much higher than the boathouse this is. The boathouse walls are due to be sandblasted and the roof replaced using reclaimed slate, but not until after we have moved in.

The demolition has opened up a view of the long thin building, imaginatively known as "building 2", which will be on the north side of the pedestrian street. The section in the lefthand half of the picture will be refurbished to provide bicycle storage and a bicycle repair workshop whilst the more distant half will be transformed in to the play room, laundry and toilets of the Common House together with some guest rooms.

The final photograph shows the base of the old boiler house chimney, which is being removed to accommodate the lower ground floor of Terrace F, which will be built into the hillside. The bricks from the chimney are the most suitable for re-use because of the effect the heat from the chimney has had on the mortar. Some of the chimney will be kept in place for now as it is holding up the slope!

We expect the demolition contractors to be on site for another couple of weeks.

Jon

Seeing how it's done at Springhill

2011-04-26T12:31:00.000+01:00

It's a bit all work and no play for us at the moment, so to give ourselves a reminder of what it's all about, last weekend a group of us went by train (from Oxford) and car (from Lancaster) to visit Springhill Cohousing in Stroud, where 35 households have been living together since 2003. Some of our members had already seen Springhill, and David from Stroud has visited our site too (you can see him talking about Springhill and cohousing generally on one of our YouTube videos), but for the people who visited this time it was our first experience of cohousing in action.

It's a beautiful site... we followed the most direct route from the station and this took us up through a park to a gate which led straight onto Springhill's pedestrian street. In intimacy and security it reminded me of a university campus, though it was clearly a place where people of all ages were living together. It also has a lovely 'lived in' feel - there was garden furniture out on the street, and lots of pots and planting. I was really impressed with how well the houses blended in with their surroundings, and I hope ours will do the same.

We were very impressed with the three-storey co-house, especially the top floor where the community eats together 3-4 times a week. We talked about recipes and local sourcing and fridge organisation, how they manage signing up and paying, and what they've learnt as they've gone along. Then we went to look at various of their houses and flats, and saw the different things people have done with their space. Most of their houses are bigger than ours will be, but share an open-plan design and focus on energy-efficiency.

Pete spent a lot of time investigating their composting facilities, and we were all impressed with their SUDS (Sustainable Urban Drainage System). We talked about cohousing challenges too of course -- how to develop menus that work for everyone, and managing the 'four Ps' -- parking, parenting, painting and pets...

We learnt a lot but we also really enjoyed ourselves and came away feeling inspired. Maria Angeles said that she wished we could fast-forward to when we have moved in ourselves, and I know just what she meant... Many thanks to David, Natalie, Sarah and everyone else we met who took time our of their weekend to talk to us, it was inspiring, interesting and useful, and we look forward to inviting you back one day soon!

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Easter at Halton "Beach"

2011-04-26T11:10:00.000+01:00

I think the photos will speak for themselves, but we all enjoyed our time on site over the Easter break.
When the river is low, the river and site is really popular.

As you can see the girls played quietly and calmly.

Whilst the boys did not stop jumping, running...

and getting very, very wet!

The adults enjoyed the scenery - with crystal clear waters

and loads of gorgeous bluebells.

Luke.

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Demolition begins

2011-04-12T19:31:00.004+01:00

Work started on Monday this week on demolishing the factory buildings! They are fenced off, and a small gang are carefully removing the cement asbestos sheeting from the roofs.

The Smithy building is already roofless... It all happened very quickly, as they used a telehandler with a cage on it instead of having to scaffold anything out.

http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/

The Lune is rising and the periscope too!

2011-04-03T14:41:00.002+01:00

April 1^st saw the completion of the first phase of building work at Forgebank. The work, funded by a grant from the Dept of Energy & Climate Change under a local partnership called Halton Carbon Positive included re-roofing, new windows and airtightness work to the mill building that will become workshops and offices.

A small celebration was held to thank those who had pulled out all the stops to get the job done in double quick time. The building was ‘Topped out’ with two bits of spruce by Joe from the main contractors The Better Roofing Company. As well as those who had worked on the job ( Alian Energy & Out of the Woods) the event was attended by people from local Community interest company LESS and Halton Lune Hydro who had been involved in the Halton Carbon Positive partnership:

Chris who had been the site manager for the Cohousing company read out a poem that had been specially commissioned for the occasion from poet, printmake, artist, theatre director and general cultural provocateur John Fox.

Having poetry on a building site was inspired by the tradition of POETS Day - nothing to do with national poetry day. We rounded off the celebration with a toast of champagne from commemorative builders mugs.

TOPPING OUT AT HALTON. by John Fox . 25 March 2011.

The Lune is rising

and the periscope too.

But never fear

the roof is on (before its time)

and the ghosts are gone.

The periscope reveals

dreams made concrete.

Who would imagine that here

they engineered elephants

bigger than clock work?

Who would imagine that here

an eco village would grow

bigger than concept?

A dream of utopian commitment

made truly concrete.

Where past and future meet.

Pine boards a century old

repaired and overlaid

with foil and foam and membranes

from our technological decade.

After a combination of graft and craft and sheer bloody nous,

our workshop’s ready.

(Well nearly )

And soon we’ll see the very first house.

A community is waiting.

Waiting like the elbow of the river

with energy to power new generations

to illuminate and forge

Forge Bank at Halton.

So never fear,

the roof is on

ghosts are teased

ivy is cut and vandals appeased.

Where a naval periscope once strangely rose

now raise your glass to metamorphose.

Like the rusting elephant found a golden sultan,

we’ve topped out

Forge Bank at Halton.

Mighty oaks from little acorns grow - but luckily it takes a while

2011-04-02T22:46:00.001+01:00

Pete, one of our greener-fingered members, recently caused his allotment committee some alarm...

Re: Your Plot
Hoping this little note, which is just seeking clarification, finds you well. On a recent site visit to all the plots the committee noted what appears to be oak (?) hedging on your plot. Given the potential for oaks, if they are oaks, to grow to a considerable size I would be grateful if you could advise me of the following;
(i) Are they oaks? If not, what are they?
(ii) What is your long term objective in regards to the planting of the above?
Many thanks for your cooperation and I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Fortunately, he was able to set their minds at rest pretty fast:

Re: My Plot
No, it's not a hedge! I am a member of Lancaster Cohousing, and we have been donated these baby oaks (correct) for our plot of land at Halton. They sort of turned up out of the blue the other week and we had to do something with them. I have temporarily offered to host them on my allotment until they can be planted out in the autumn -- we have quite a lot of work out at the site and they would be at risk of being squashed by a big yellow JCB or something if we put them out there now. It takes quite a bit of organisation and forethought to get a work party together to plant 50 oaks properly with stakes and rabbit proofing etc. We just didn't think we could organise a work party to get them in this spring in time, so they are just down there for a holding area till they can go to a permanent home in the autumn. Our hope is that they all survive into standard oaks, and definitely not where they currently are! Hope that's OK.

So no damage done...

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Timelapse photography project is go!

2011-04-02T17:55:00.002+01:00

If you are in the Aberdeen Road area of Lancaster you may have noticed a house bristling with cameras – I have bought two timelapse cameras to document the demolition and building phases of our cohousing project and am doing some trials working out the maths of how often the cards will have to be changed etc. They are both very easy to use.

1. A ProjectCam, to go on the top of the telegraph pole in a fixed position, and stay there for the duration of the build. It automatically takes a still picture at fixed intervals during the working day which are later edited together to get a sped-up movie of the build. Check out details of the camera and an example of a time lapse video of a building project made using one of these cameras.

2. Bushnell Trophy Cam (as used in Land of the Tigers. If a tiger walks by at Forge Bank we should get a picture of it.) This smaller camera works on a motion sensor and/or time lapse. It can be positioned in various places (trees, buildings etc) according to what's likely to be happening. It has an infra-red sensor so will start taking pictures when someone's doing something on site, but could also be used to get shots of foxes, otters etc and can take pictures
in the dark.

These cameras are more suitable for our project than a much more expensive kit I was considering (Canon SLR etc)- they won't get quite such professional results but I'm a lot happier with this cheaper option, not least because the expensive kit might have got nicked or damaged.

ProjectCam is due to be installed on the telegraph pole next week, in time for demolition starting...

Field testing

Left are two photos taken 30 seconds apart. In the first, there's a person quite far down the road on the right hand side, who I think is the same person in the second photo further down the street on the left side. Ideally I'd have liked five-second intervals, as would have been possible with the expensive kit I didn't buy, as it would have given a smoother motion with people's movements – clearly they can jump quite far in 30 seconds from one frame to the next! But 30 second intervals should be fine for buildings going up or coming down.

The other thing is that although the resolution is good on ProjectCam, the lens is nothing like as good as the Canon SLR would have been. However it's pretty good for what we want and a fraction of the cost.

The test also showed that the highest resolution photos have a file size of just under 1 MB. So with a 16 GB memory card, that's about 16,000 photos. If Project Cam is set up to take photos for the working day 8.00 am to 5pm every 30 seconds, that's 1080 photos per day, so it looks like someone will have to climb the telegraph pole and change the card about once a fortnight.

Luckily, Geof and Cliodhna are back in the cohousing project: Geof's telegraph pole climbing skills are second to none!

Frances

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Membership spring forward!

2011-03-31T20:51:00.000+01:00

We had another busy social Sunday this month, with our regular monthly brunch at the Whale Tail in the city centre followed by a tour of our Halton site and an integration meeting at the Centre @ Halton for people who want to find out more about what is involved in cohousing, how we make decisions etc. It was great to talk to both new and regular visitors to Lancaster, and also to see some Halton residents, who came along following our presence at the Halton Eco Fair on Saturday 26.

We've reached a point where we only have a few houses left in the project (see details of these here) -- which is exciting, but at the same it's almost disappointing, as there seem to be so many lovely people just finding out about the project for the first time who might miss out. But maybe some of them will be tempted by Heron Bank instead -- two are reserved already, but we still have four left -- so there's still time to be our new neighbours!

Lucy

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Glasgow get-together: Weds 6 April - all welcome!

2011-03-30T23:01:00.000+01:00

I have been away from the project for six months, 'exiled' in Glasgow where I've been getting a full draft of my PhD completed. I can't wait to move back to Lancaster and get involved in the project again.

But in the meantime, I'm not the only Lancaster Cohouser in Glasgow - Pam lives here too, and we have decided to have a Lancaster Cohousing get-together in Glasgow's sexy West End. We'll be meeting at my favourite cafe, the Bay Tree, by Kelvinbridge on the Great Western Road, at 7 pm on Wednesday 6th April, and we'd be very pleased to meet anyone with even the slightest interest in our project.

We will talk about what excited us about Lancaster Cohousing, and answer any questions that you may have before you take the trip south to look into buying one of our very few last houses.... All welcome, email info@lancastercohousing.org.uk or just turn up and look out for us - we'll have some Cohousing leaflets on the table!

Fiona

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Land Team at work

2011-03-30T22:24:00.002+01:00

Members of the Land Team have been busy over the past three months.
In January and February people were cutting off 30 cm strips of ivy from around tree trunks, as it was a planning condition to clear ivy from the trees. Sometimes this was a challenge, as the ivy stems could be 6cm across, which takes a lot of cutting, and some trees were very close to the river, which was often hair-raising.

In February and March we dug up saplings of beech, alder and ash, to transplant and grow on, ready for replanting once we have moved in, as some of the replacements for all the trees we have had to cut down in order to build the houses.

And recently we have taken our last opportunity to save some herbaceous plants before the demolition crew moves in – daffodil, astilbe, peony, solomon’s seal, primrose.

Since the trees have been cut down, and brambles cut back, more and more of the former planting scheme has become visible.

Some of the cut brambles have been piled up into a wonderful spiral habitat for small animals and insects, which Pete and Diana are calling a windrow.

Kate

http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/

Halton Skate Park Open

2011-03-28T09:50:00.000+01:00

The new skatepark at The Centre@Halton is now open, much to the delight of local kids and teenagers. Fergal and his friends think it is awesome. The Halton Community Centre has been very successful in obtaining grants for both a new playground, new skatepark and significant refurbishment of the building itself. The Centre is only a few hundred metres up the road from our site.

At our last General Meeting held at The Centre, there were literally queues forming around the skate park with kids wanting to use their BMX, scooter or skateboards. I am in awe of some of the tricks I saw - not for the faint hearted!

The playground is also progressing well - new equipment appears every time I visit the site. There is nothing of this size or quality in Lancaster, so kids of Halton are very lucky.

Luke.

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Cohousers at Halton Mosaic workshop

2011-03-19T10:26:00.003Z

It is a while since 13th February when some of us took a break from a weekend of cohousing general meeting. That morning we went to Halton Community Centre to take part in a workshop led by Maggie Howarth, making clay figures of local people past and present, to be placed in a mosaic at the Centre.

Some of us made ourselves or other cohousers, such as a wheelbarrow load of the 2 youngest members, Martha and Polly, while I made Colonel Benirski (right), who, after the second World War, founded the engineering works on what is now our site.

We expected to enjoy chatting to each other but were completely engrossed in the making, and were companionably silent for most of the morning.

I hope that we can spend more time together like this, a foretaste of how it may be when we live together, rather than the current endless round of meetings...

Kate

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

First photos from the build now on our website...

2011-03-15T21:53:00.002Z

One of our members - Frances, who also shot and edited our videos - has started taking photos on site as we enter the demolition and build phase. She's planning to take photos from the same points on site regularly as the work happens, so we can see the changes unfold.

Her ambition is to do some proper time-lapse photography, which would be really cool, but we're not sure yet if that's affordable and feasible. So in the meantime, have a look at our 'before' photos. Some things are happening already: there's scaffolding up on the Mill for its new roof and windows, and we've cleared some leylandii and other trees and undergrowth.

It's all starting to happen...

jo

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Terrace G becomes Heron Bank!

2011-02-28T22:37:00.002Z

We've started marketing the terrace of houses that will be located just outside the project and built to the same eco-standards as our main co-housing development.

The houses all have three bedrooms, and will also have private gardens and car parking spaces. There are six terraces in the main development, A-F, so originally we called the neighbour houses 'Terrace G' - not very appealing, or indeed meaningful to anyone who doesn't know about the other terraces! So we had a bit of a brainstorm about names, and then did a sticky dots vote on the resulting ideas at our General Meeting last weekend.

The most popular name was Heron Bank. It's not just marketing hype, there really are herons! Luke took the photo above just up river from the site.

If you want to know more about the Heron Bank houses, please see the details on our website, or email info@lancastercohousing.org.uk.

jo

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Article about us in the Winter 2010 issue of Clean Slate

2011-01-29T15:36:00.003Z

Our project manager Jon Sear has contributed an article about cohousing to the Winter 2010 issue of the Centre for Alternative Technology's Clean Slate magazine, as part of a section looking at zerocarbonbritain2030.

Read his article here. (links to pdf version)

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Lancaster Cohousing partners with The Centre @ Halton on Lottery Bid

2010-11-30T15:26:00.001Z

Lancaster Cohousing and The Centre @ Halton are through to the second round of a Local Food Lottery Bid. If successful, the project, to be called 'Food Matters', will include:

a 'community supported agriculture' scheme working with a local farmer.
'grow, cook and eat' events in The Centre @ Halton
residential weekends for groups from all over the country to experience living and eating in an intentional community
an education programme for local schools and community groups to get involved with growing, cooking and eating local food.

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

Fifty canoeists offer a helping hand

2010-11-21T15:18:00.002Z

Local canoe clubs turned out en masse at the site in Halton to give us a hand doing the final push on land clearance this weekend. Many thanks to all involved!

www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

It's for real!

2010-08-27T22:10:00.000+01:00

Members of Lancaster Cohousing are getting their hands dirty. Since plans were approved to redevelop a 2.5 hectare site on the River Lune at Halton near Lancaster, things have been moving on apace.

As a group we have been land clearing and salvaging prior to the building contractor making a start. Everybody is having an input with regard to soft and edible communal landscaping and everything seems a lot more real now that we have decided on doors, windows, door handles, taps, floor boards and other interior details.

Exciting social happenings too are afoot, such as our communal meals, films and visits. Hurry to grab one of the 6 homes remaining of the 34 in the first phase of the development, or come to a Sunday brunch at the Whale Tail in Lancaster - we hold them on the 4th weekend of each month. See our website for more details.

Press release: eco-housing gets go ahead

2010-07-26T15:01:00.002+01:00

Members of local community group Lancaster Cohousing are celebrating after Lancaster City Council’s planning committee approved their plans to redevelop a 2.5 hectare derelict site by the River Lune at Halton, near Lancaster, to provide 40 new private homes, shared indoor and outdoor space and managed business space. The cohousing group is a mix of individuals, couples and families of all ages whose aim is to build eco-homes of a cutting edge sustainable design and create a friendly, supportive neighbourhood.

The 1 bedroom flats, and 2 and 3 bedroom terraced houses will be built to the super-insulated Passivhaus standard and will form the largest Passivhaus development in the UK. Together with the hydro scheme being developed with the local community, this design will ensure a very low carbon footprint.

Each household will have their own home and there will also be shared facilities, including a laundry, child care area and workshops, and a common house, where residents can, if they wish, cook and eat together. This mix will ensure residents have their own space whilst encouraging social contact enabling them to build connections with their neighbours.

The derelict factory building on site, covering an area of 1200m², is to be refurbished to provide a mixture of serviced workshops, offices and studios for small businesses, organisations and individuals. Located in an attractive area, the units will enjoy a local and personal management service, shared facilities and a zero carbon energy supply, and will be available on flexible terms.

Project manager Jon Sear said: “This is a really important milestone for us. It means we can now start the detailed design work, get the necessary funding agreements in place and appoint a building contractor to work with us. If people wish to join the project, there are still a few homes available to buy and business units to rent.”

Construction on the site should begin early in 2011, aiming for completion of 34 of the 40 homes by Spring 2012.

Contact: Jon Sear
14 Kenilworth Place, Lancaster, LA1 4HE
telephone: 01524 555919
email: jon@lancastercohousing.org.uk
www.lancastercohousing.org.uk