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:
This spring we had a follow up survey of the water vole population on the HHP site overseen by a member of Brackenhurst college (part of Nottingham Trent University). There appears to be a rapid rise in the population of water voles in the main site ponds, which supports the evidence that the habitat is very suitable, with plentiful forage and low predation. The water vole population of each pond is probably at, or near the maximum capacity that can be sustained. Further evidence to support population rise is the presence of burrows and food remains at two new ponds within the site. However there were some unusual population changes in some of the newer ponds which have resulted in plans for a more detailed study over two breeding seasons. Brackenhurst staff feel there is much merit in carrying out the work and may further the understanding of water vole ecology.
HHP opened the doors of its new ‘Sustainable Resource Centre’ (SRC) for visitors at the beginning of 2005, after 18 months of construction and kitting out. The building was designed, work supervised and most of the labour contributed by project members themselves. The new building is in stark contrast to the infamous ‘shed’ used for visitors over the last 7 years for slide presentations, offering comparatively luxurious facilities including a dedicated audio-visual room, seminar facilities and permanent exhibitions.
The new facilities will allow HHP to demonstrate more effectively the key sustainability principles of the project. The ‘eco-community building’ is low profile situated near and complimenting the houses, including an earth covered roof. This building has been designed to meet the same high standards as the homes, ‘Zero CO2’, ‘Zero heated’, and ‘Autonomous’ standards’.
Iskra (a locally based manufacturer) has been very busy in Nottinghamshire this year installing their new wind turbine, including two in Rushcliffe Country Park and one at HHP. At HHP, the 26m tower was raised first, and the turbine was added a few weeks afterwards.
The HHP decided to install the wind turbine in order to meet the ‘Zero CO2’ requirements of the new community building and planning permission was granted earlier this year for a 5kW rated turbine.
This December the 2nd wind turbine at HHP has begun generating green energy. It is estimated to produce 12,000kWhrs per annum.