Earthbuilds

 

by Deborah Miarkowska

Earthbuilds are a company based in Europe developing and promoting fully sustainable off-grid buildings based on the earthship design of Mike Reynolds in Taos, New Mexico. Earthbuilds is evolving the earthship concept and developing new technology, materials and ways of working. The company was set up by a UK couple, Kevan and Gillian Trott who are passionate about sustainable building and ways of living. Their company offers a full design and build service together with workshops, seminars and courses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are a number of ways that these houses are sustainable. They operate a passive heating and cooling system. The building is constructed with waste tyres containing compacted earth which functions as a thermal battery to keep the house warm in the winter and cool in the summer. The power needs of the house are generated by micro solar and wind. Rain water is harvested from the roof and enters a sophisticated filtration system which takes the water to drinking quality and provides all the water used in the house. Sewage is treated on site and food is grown very efficiently in a south facing greenhouse at the front of the building. The final elements of the building are that they are constructed re-using a number of waste materials such as tyres, bottles and cans as well as eco building materials such as adobe, wood and hempcrete. Earthbuilds is also incorporating elements of permaculture into the design both inside and surrounding the building.

Earthship France

The first European domestic earthship construction with full planning permission was built by the Trott Family together with Mike Reynolds in Normandy, France and is a fully sustainable home of the future. It is utility bills free, apart from the telephone. At a time when we are entering peak oil and times of more scarce resources in general, this style of living will become more and more important. The French earthship demonstrates one small way that climate change can be addressed by an individual. Perrine is available for rentals so that people can experience off-grid living first hand. Here are some testimonials of the visitors who vote over- whelming in favour of this type of home.

“Had a brilliant stay and thoroughly enjoyed living off-grid.”
“We have really enjoyed our stay and found the earthship inspirational.”
“Sleeping in one you feel so peaceful and safe within the solid walls around you” I enjoyed the calm and tranquil atmosphere aboard the earthship.”
“Thank you all for building this beautiful place.”

The planter, which processes grey water in the house, has performed brilliantly both in terms of processing the water and growing the plants. “We have had lemons, clementines, grapes and aloe vera so far” says Gillian. “Some very kind visitors also planted avocado plants which seem to be loving it”.

Zwolle Earthship, The Netherlands

Kevan project managed the building of the Zwolle Earthship in 2008 with the newly established Euro Crew, and was there for its grand official opening in June 2009. The Earthbuilds Euro Crew worked together with the US crew under Reynolds for the first month of the build, then it was completed by the newly formed Euro crew. The earthship has interesting décor within and inspiring grounds around it. The building is open for teas and coffees and can be reached direct by train from Amsterdam (about 2 hours}. It is a shining example of how viable this sustainable way of building can be.

Greenheadmoss Country Park Earthship, Glasgow

Kevan and the Euro Crew, have had three phases of working on this project which is a Visitor Centre for a large Country Park just outside Glasgow in Scotland.. Also a successful series of workshops were run by Gillian of Earthbuilds in conjunction with the construction. A number of course participants now feel more ready to tackle an earthship inspired building for themselves after that experience. However, unfortunately disaster struck in March this year when there was a fire on the site and details of how the project can move forward will be released later this year.

Further Developments in the UK, Poland and Portugal

Earthbuilds ran a Seminar in Poland last Autumn and have now received floor plans from a Polish architect for the earthship-inspired sports facility building there. Work will hopefully commence in 2010.

Workshops were run on a live build in a Mertola, a beautiful part of Portugal in October 2OO9. Initially Earthbuilds facilitated the construction of a small U unit art studio, with a view to the community expanding onto larger projects after the initial demonstration. Course participants travelled from all over Europe and beyond to attend.

In October the company worked on a new project to build a small earthship-inspired demonstration model in Cornwall, UK. This project saw Earthbuilds working with an Education Charity to provide a training programme for Youth in Action. 30 young people 18 - 30 from Italy, France, UK, Estonia, Austria and Latvia worked with Earthbuilds on a 7 day project (Phase 1). A youth programme similar to the Plymouth project will be run in Estonia in May 2010. We hope this will continue to be replicated with youth groups throughout Europe.

Schumacher College, Devon, UK
A course will be run at Schumacher College together with a demonstration project in Autumn 2010.

Earthship Inspirations Conference

A conference celebrating 1O years of earthship-style building will be held on 19th June 2O1O in Brighton with speakers from all over Europe presenting their earthship projects.

The world of sustainable building is gaining pace and Earthbuilds is moving forward with this, developing and evolving the original earthship design. They are offering a choice of tyre and non-tyre structures, two storey homes, use of new materials and technologies etc. In the potential future world of scarce materials and energies, it is good to know that a lot of ground work to find solutions by companies such as this are already in place and offer hope in dealing with the issues we face in the future.

Opportunities for attending workshops, courses and volunteering on live builds are on offer this year. Follow the Earthship Facebook page and information for further details.

For details about rentals, see earthship-france.com.

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