Hockerton Housing Project has scooped an award in the National Energy Efficiency Awards run by UK CEED in partnership with EDF Energy . The event was also sponsored by defra and The Independent .
Nick White & Trudi Macagnino on behalf of HHP collected the top prize in the residential construction and renovation category this week (6 December) at the Science Museum in London.
Judges commented: “This is a commendable project that demonstrates how community leadership can achieve inspiring living spaces in absolute harmony with their surroundings”
“Hockerton Housing Project is an eco-community which grows much of its own food, generates its own power and enjoys massive energy savings. Over the past few years, the project has helped to spread the word that sustainable living is within everyone’s reach. To date, more than 10,000 people have visited to see it for themselves. The families have their own water collecting system and environmentally friendly sewage system – and their lifestyle produces other eco-benefits, such as the reduction in waste from food packaging.”
There was a special supplement about the awards & winners in ‘The Independent’ on 11th Dec 2006.
In November 2006 we ran a visit for extremely able sixth form students from all over the UK as part of a one week intense, inspirational course brought together by Villiers Park Educational Trust. The course title is ‘The World in Crisis’. The aim of the visit to the Hockerton Housing Project was to provide an experience that anchored the whole course to the students own lives and to bring home how their daily lives will have to change in order for us to work towards a sustainable future.
The visit incuded a tour of the project, and a debate on ‘The Government has a duty to force individuals to lead a more sustainable lifestyle.’ Each student was assigned a role within ‘for’ and ‘against’ teams; such as: a politician, Friends of the Earth representative, Climate change expert, Car industry representative, and a Representative of a human rights organisation.
After the visit specific feedback was collected from the students about the trip. During the general feedback session almost all of them said that the trip was one of the two highlights of the course.
B&Q’s launch of £1500 roof-mounted wind turbines in 107 stores nationwide & online, has really caught the imagination of the media and general public.
Locally, HHP was invited on the 4th October to join Paul Johnson from B&Q in a live discussion on Radio Nottingham about this subject. Although we are concerned about the performance of such wind turbines and the manufacturers’ claims about energy production (click here for further information about HHP views and see an interesting article in the Observer ), we were pleased to hear from Paul that they were taking a very responsible approach. Each customer that applies for an installation will have a structural survey to ensure building integrity and assistance to apply for Government funding of approximately £500 and a condition of the funding is that the household must improve the energy efficiency of their homes. B&Q will also assess the viability of the wind turbines by considering how windy the area is.
BBC Jam is an educational tool for schools. Under a Design & Technology section for 11-14 year olds. It uses the Hockerton Housing Project as one of the main case studies to illustrate aspects of sustainability. It includes some fantastic graphics (not unlike SIMMS) of HHP and short videos with HHP members showing lots of different aspects of the Project, including;
- a tour of the home,
- food & animals,
- meet the family (the Whites),
- location,
- image gallery.
On Tuesday 16th May, Francesca (age 11 and resident of HHP) appeared on BBC2’s new early morning children’s programme, Level Up, explaining how the homes at HHP collect, use and treat water. This was compared with two other children and how they collect and use water, particularly in relation to toilets.
On Thursday 18th May, one of the other Project children, Naomi Tilley (age 10) will appear on the same programme with her Dad, using a tandem to get to school.
