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.
HHP has had a flurry of interest from various written and broadcast media over recent months including:
- BBC One O’clock News & BBC News 24 (23rd June 2005) – Live broadcast linked to Governments launch of a consultation on micro-generation
- Carlton TV (16th Feb 2005) used HHP as part of a news item to coincide with initiation of the Kyoto Protocol
- Regeneration & Renewal magazine (27th May 2005) – “Innovations – A self-sufficient eco-housing scheme”
- BBC2-‘No Waste Like Home’ (autumn 2005) – HHP was used as an example of good eco practice
- Energy & Environment magazine (DEFRA) (July/August edition) – Article about HHP
- Self Build & Design Magazine (Due out in next edition) – Article about HHP and new ‘Master Class’ events
- Artist Blacksmith magazine – Article about HHP’s new recycled sculpture
- The Independent (1st June 2005) – Diary Of An Eco-Builder – ‘If you and your mates want to build a fully fledged eco-idyll, this is the way to do it‘ (Will Anderson). This article was written after Will visited HHP and another local eco-development. A short excerpt from the article: “Hockerton is a contemporary autonomous community… It didn’t cost much to build and it’s clearly a delight to live there. If you and your mates want to build a fully-fledged rural eco-idyll, start here.”
