TTT Building and Housing Group are now very close to purchasing a site for the Transition Homes project - around 25 low cost, low carbon homes with sustainable energy production, waste management and food production. The aim is to design the whole site, with community involvement, along permaculture principles.
To achieve this we invited permaculture designer and teacher, Klaudia van Gool, to give an outline of permaculture design on Feb 13th and then run a 2 day course on Feb 23rd/24th. Both events were a great success.
During the design course participants visited Puddaven Field and then thought about how the site could best accommodate around 25 homes, energy systems, food growing, coppice for fuel, waste management and wild areas to enhance biodiversity. You can see Puddaven Field in this short film:
So what's permaculture got to do with Transition and why are we planning to design a housing development on permaculture principles? Well, firstly, Transition grew out of the permaculture movement and there is still a huge overlap. It's about building our communities along the same principles that we might apply to our sustainable gardens and allotments - and then adding in some ethical foundations such as Earth Care, People Care and Fair Share.
We believe the Transition Homes project brings together ethical issues such as providing quality housing for those in need and not just the wealthy with the practical necessity of building homes and communities that heal rather than damage the planet. Simple really - now we just have to make it happen!
Transition Town Totnes 