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Eco-village will have 300 residents
(06/02/2010)
By Peter Gleeson
There will be about 300 new residents added to Cloughjordan’s population of 700 when construction on the eco-village in the parish is completed.
A ten-page feature on what is Ireland’s first ecovillage published in the current issue of “Construction Ireland” magazine says about 50 houses should be completed on the 67 acre site by the end of next year.
The magazine states that about 25 houses are under construction and some are now finished. It describes the variety of building methods on the site as “striking”, from timber frame and hemp-lime construction to a mix of cement and wood fibre.
“What you see here is very much a test ground for different types of builds,” says Dave Flannery, the project’s sales manager.
The organisers set up a co-operative company to oversee the project and everyone who buys a site becomes a member.
A masterplan divides the site into roughly three parts: a third for housing, a third for food production and a third for woodland.
The residential zone includes 130 units across detached and semidetached houses, terraces, apartment blocks and livework units. Members can design a house from scratch or buy into a project with an existing design.
“A market square off Cloughjordan’s main street will be the economic hub and will feature live-work business units and two community buildings – one for educational and community use, the other for cultural activities.”
The article in “Construction Ireland” magazine goes on to state that work has already started on an “eco-hostel” nearby as well as a curved building on the bounds of the site and the existing village that will house a café/bookshop and apartments.
From the start the designers aimed to discourage car use, making roads narrower than in a typical estate to slow vehicles down, and forcing motorists to take a winding route through the site. Only pedestrians and cyclists can use the main entrance from Cloughjordan – motorists have to take a detour to get in – and footpaths in the eco-village are kept separate from the roads to prioritise pedestrians.
“We wanted it to be the opposite of a housing estate,” Brian O’Brien of Solearth Architects, one of those who drew up the master plan for the site, is quoted as saying. “For many such developments the first thing in question is to decide where the traffic is going, but we wanted that to be the last thing to influence us.”
Every house built must adhere to the village’s ecocharter which states that buildings should be highly insulated, make use of passive solar gain and renewable energy, minimise potable water consumption, reduce construction waste and low embodied energy materials.
“Construction Ireland” magazine reports on how all the buildings will be heated by a wood-chip heating system, a system chosen because wood-chip is available locally. This heating system will be the largest solar thermal collector in the country, supplied and installed by Carey Glass in Nenagh.
All mature trees on the original site were preserved, and one third of all land will be dedicated specifically to woodland and forest gardens. Members have already planted over 70 varieties of Irish apple trees in a nursery, and native species of tree will take priority in the woodland. Fruit and nut trees will be scattered the whole site – the idea to create an edible and biodiverse landscape.
Members have leased a further 21 acres nearby and hired a farmer to produce a range of vegetables and fruit as well as eggs and milks. Non-members living locally can join the scheme too. “It’s the first community supported agriculture scheme in Ireland,” Dave Flannery told “Construction Ireland”.
As part of the feature the magazine talks to a number of people who have bought sites. One of those is Peadar Kirby, who, having lived in Dublin was attracted with his wife to a vibrant rural community. “For both of us the issue of climate change is a very major issue. Being involved in a group of people trying to model a more sustainable way of living was of great interest to us,” he says. |
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