reed beds | Selfbuild Central

Garden

Regardless of what particular style you have in mind for your garden and surroundings there are several opportunities to enhance the ecological value of the site

protect and enhance the fauna and flora avoid damaging protected species do the least damage possible to rich habitats create even better habitats maybe you can grow food [...]

Situated in the Scottish Highlands, this nearly completed timber house is composed of three hexagonal areas plus a sun room which extends segmentally out of one of the hexagon sides. The framework is of local Douglas fir and the rain screenthis is a (usually thin) outer cladding on [...]

Allerton Park, Leeds

Walter Segal self build

This is made up of 3 adjoining houses which were built by three families, starting in 1993. They were constructed according to the Walter SegalThe architect who devised a simple timber frame self build system (often simply known as ‘Segal self build’. see more on the Segal method self build [...]

Earth Heart

Earth Heart is a community of 22 people in 8 homes based on a large converted farm in Derbyshire set up in 1998 around home education. Although not initially concerned with eco-build, they have embraced the concept thoroughly during their upgrading of an old farm house and several outbuildings into dwellings.

There [...]

Hockerton Housing Project

The five earth sheltered houses. Image by WindandSun who provided the PV installation

The Hockerton Housing Project is the UK’s first (and almost only) earth sheltered housing development. It is a remarkable place, not only because of the five houses which are built into the side of a hill and are almost zero [...]

Water Conservation

This tends to be something of a regional issue but certainly in the South East, it is becoming a major concern with planning permissionthe legal basis for being allowed to do some form of development such as building a house. (not to be confused with Building RegulationsThese are the legal regulations which govern how [...]

Building Regulations

February 2013

See the government web site on Building Regulations

Building Regulations deal with whether the building is built properly and is safe and energy efficient etc. more+/-»

They are not to be confused with Planning Consentthe legal basis for being allowed to do some form of development such as building a house. (not to [...]