CLOUGHJORDAN ECO-VILLAGE

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GOING ALL THE WAY WITH SUSTAINABILITY
Imagine there is a 67-acre farm next to you. How would you feel if the whole area was sold to a group of people that wanted to set up a complete eco village? Would you think that the idea was quaint and let them get on with it as long as they didn’t cause trouble? Maybe you would get involved; maybe you would welcome the diversity into your village or town. This isn’t just a theoretical question for the residents in Cloughjordan in County Tipperary. Planning has gone through for 132 environmentally friendly houses to be built on the farm. Included in the plans are reed bed sewage systems, woodlands, wildlife areas, and allotments and children’s play areas. Members also have access to over 50 acres of community land and infrastructure. An organic farm and orchards will be included. A district heating mains system and an enterprise space with support facilities such as broadband communication and an internal telephone network are also planned.
The initiative, called The Village is not the first to appear in Ireland. The idea is becoming more popular and there is an organisation called The Global Eco-Village Network (GEN) set up to help people set up their own community. This is a non-profit making organisation that promotes and supports models of sustainable living. . (Their website is at http://gen.ecovillage.org/ )
Locally people have tried to set up such communities. The Meithal centre on Inch Island was popular some years ago with people wanting to try to live communally. It eventually disbanded but since then groups like the Village feel that they have learnt from these early mistakes and they have overcome potential problems by coming up with a very comprehensive ecological charter.

General overview of the ecological charter:

The group will follow guidelines such as

Energy efficiency: All buildings will follow the principle of low-impact and high performance design
Renewable energy (RES): This can be met by purchasing renewable energy from the national grid or from integrated local renewable power generation.
Space heating: Mainly by solar power backed up by wood stoves, heat pumps, CHP, solar and thermal.
Cooking appliances: Non-electrical devices are preferred; if not appliances of a high efficiency rating must be used.
Domestic hot water: Hot water supply will be met by active renewable techniques, such as roof mounted solar thermal panels.
Biodiversity: The estate will be equally divided into three land use zones comprising residential, agricultural and natural/woodland zones. The growing of local food and energy crops will be favoured.
Water management: Harvested rainwater and grey water can be used for toilet flushing and irrigation, etc. All wastewater will be separated close to source and treated onsite
Waste management: Waste reduction, reuse and recycling are core design principles of the project.
Materials: The embodied energy of materials will be taken into consideration. This includes materials of a low-embodied energy, locally sourced labour skills and materials should be used where possible, with minimum wastage.
Healthy indoor environment: All construction materials should be chosen that are non-toxic in manufacture, use and decay.
Daylight: Day lighting in buildings will be maximised.
Ventilation: Passive building ventilation will be maximised and accompanied by heat exchangers for heat recovery.
Transport: The Village will encourage the use of public transport, car-pooling, community transport schemes, cycling and walking as modes of transportation.
Social & Community: Sharing of common facilities where possible, such as collective laundry and transport will be favoured. Open and public access to all common amenities will be promoted

What type of people are interested in The Village?
All types of people. Anyone who sees a sustainable way of life as something worth striving for. The members are from all walks of life. Students, PAYE, Self-Employed, Retired. The range of work disciplines is quite diverse. Some are Architects, I.T. Professionals, Teachers, Homemakers, Engineers, and Artists etc.

Buying into the dream.
The company is selling to member’s freehold sites with outline planning permission and services. Some people will choose to self-build their homes and it is the company’s intention to work with approved housing developers who will build houses for members, after the infrastructure has been developed.

How much will a site cost?
The Village is a non-for profit company so all money raised through the sale of sites to members is used to provide the development that members want. The estimated cost of the whole project is €6.25 million when this is divided by the number of sites to sell the average cost is in the region of €50,000. However sites should cost between €17,000 and €80,000

Mixed feelings
These developments are met with mixed feelings. Some people think they are an oddity; some people have a strong community already and feel no need to join such an organisation. They are proving to be beneficial to small towns though as the people not only use local facilities, they do attract a lot of craftspeople that in turn boosts local trade. The local school will be bulging at the seams though! The Village group hopefully have learnt that to be a success they will need to be accepted by the local community already there and also the locals will need to be supportive for it to work successfully.

Environmental.