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Residential developments
3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Earthships are like no other building form. They are ‘solar independent buildings that heat and cool themselves, are self powered, harvest their own water and deal with their own waste. With free energy from the sun and free waste materials in construction, their design is based on earth rammed tyre walls creating thermal mass to store heat’. We live in a time where there is a desperate need for bold experiments to tackle our social and ecological imbalances. We must rapidly identify alternatives, try them out, and switch them on.
Around the world Earthships are proving to be viable, replicable and scaleable alternatives to conventional housing and this project is about ‘switching them on’. It’s about unleashing the mass potential of a very powerful iconic building concept into the UK mainstream.
The Earthship Homes Feasibility Study has identified no major barriers to the implementation of a small scale residential Earthship development in the UK. The study has successfully identified a specific site in Brighton and Hove, which has the potential to move to an implementation phase.
The summary includes key findings in the following areas:
- Site investigation
- Earthship design
- Building regulations
- Community design
- Planning Policy
- Cost plan
- Insurance
- Market research
- Next steps
The key stage in the study was to identify potential sites for an Earthship Homes development in Brighton and Hove. We initially prepared a separate detailed site investigation study based on this work. Eleven sites where identified, in the initial findings which made use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) work. We reviewed these sites and following a short listing we revisited the shortlisted sites with an officer from Brighton & Hove City Council Planning Department. The planning officer provided us with additional comments on the sites and policy guidelines. After consideration of the planners comments and further discussions, we decided to focus attention on the only site that was both physically suitable and designated in the local plan for housing use (Site 2).
Other sites had great merit – but also had the massive barriers of being located in land zoned either as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty or Countryside. The site we chose was the only one considered to have realistic potential for implementation. The study has therefore benefited from finding an actual site with real opportunity to work with.
With a site identified, we developed a modular design suitable for both key worker housing and the private sector. This design is an evolution of earlier work and has been modified to meet domestic building regulations. The individual modular units have been organised to form a community layout – developed in consultation with the local planning authority. The layout has evolved to meet key planning policy guidelines, in particular, national guidelines on density. We have had an informal opinion from the planning authority which suggests support for the project.
With the development design worked up we focussed on a preliminary cost plan for individual modules. This was successfully completed based on merging a standard costing approach with specific Earthship building experience. A key concern of the team was to assess the market for the development and this was considered in discussions with local agents and through new market research. Significant demand for Earthship Homes exists and we obtained detailed feedback on individual requirements and potential purchase prices. The survey results where combined with the estimated build costs to draw up an overall cost plan for the development.
With a clear market for the development identified, the study looked briefly at individual finance barriers and obtained confirmation from a mortgage lender that in principle they would lend on Earthship Homes – and from an insurance provider that they would cover building insurance (both subject to status).
The team is in agreement that the next step is to seek full planning permission for the development to maintain momentum. Unfortunately this was not possible to initiate within this feasibility study due to high costs and timescale. We have now however managed to secure core funding to progress with a planning application.
