Events

When a group of residents of the Ashley Vale area of Bristol were concerned about the prospect of commercial development of a site at the heart of their community, they decided to take action.

After they formed a cooperative to purchase and redevelop the land themselves, the award-winning Ashley Vale self-build project was born. The site is now a hub of community activity incorporating housing, business and leisure spaces with the value of sustainability at its heart.

CAfS is running a free talk by Anna Hope, one of the spearheads of the Ashley Vale Action Group, who now directs Ecomotive - an organisation that is leading the way in sustainable, affordable and community-led housing.

Anna will be sharing the story of how the project came to be and what lessons we can learn from its successes for our own self-driven projects.

Read more about the Ashley Vale development & see pics

More information

Anna Hope - Our inspirational speaker is a founding director of Ecomotive with over 18 years' experience in self-build housing, who continues to research the implementation of new models of housing.

Cost - This workshop is offered free, as part of the Community Led Housing Hub Cumbria and Lancaster. The Hub provides support and access to technical expertise for groups makeing new, affordable homes for their communities.

Venue & timings - This event begins with a light lunch at 12.30pm. The talk begins at 1pm. The venue is the Tapestry Museum at the Friends Meeting House. There will also be an advice surgery in the morning (see below for details). You're welcome to come for one or both of these sessions. You'll need to book separately for the advice session (see below).

Accessibility and parking

There is limited car parking space at the venue except for pre-arranged disabled parking spaces. These must be booked beforehand with the venue which you can do by emailing: [email protected] or calling 01539 722975.

Get free face-to-face advice

There's an opportunity to get one-to-one advice from a range of experts, at an advice surgery before the talk.

The surgery, run by Cumbria ACT, is for active groups with technical queries on community-led housing. Your group will be able to speak to legal and other professional advisers.

The session includes presentations and slots (20 mins) to get some great early advice on working with partners and the significance of your governance choices.

For this event, participants should book as a group. There is room for 9 groups over the course of the morning and the maximum group size is 3 people.

Book on for the advice surgery.

The Hub is hosted by ACT and has been set up by a consortium of local councils:
•    Allerdale Borough Council
•    Carlisle City Council
•    Copeland Borough Council
•    Eden District Council
•    Lancaster City Council
•    South Lakeland District Council

You might also be interested in:

Hear about the inspiring LILAC community housing development in Leeds, at our talk by one of its residents. This pioneering development was created by local people to meet their needs. It's a stunning place, with 20 eco homes, including straw bale and blocks of flats, and even allotments and a pond!

Find out more >

This event is also part of our ongoing programme of Green Build & Sustainable Living events. Keep an eye on our website for more events throughout the year!