WICK SESSION #13 SELF-BUILD
Friday 13th September 2013, 7pm
WICK SESSION #13
SELF-BUILD
WHEN: Friday 13th September 2013, 7PM
WHERE: Event Space, The White Building, Unit 7 Queens Yard, White Post Lane, London E9 5EN
WHO: Calum Green, Gus Zogolovitch, Maximilian Goeschen, Sam Brown, Robin Turner
ABOUT SESSION NO13:
Wick Session #13 will host a conversation about self-build in east London. The idea of helping people to provide for themselves is key to the contemporary political context of Localism and the Big Society. Across the country, communities are being encouraged to do more for themselves, to take on more responsibility for the provision of local services and to participate in local planning and decision making. Support is being made available for groups that wish to take advantage of these opportunities, but the waters remain relatively untested. Concepts like the Community Right To Build, and Neighbourhood Planning suggest that ‘self-build’ should play a bigger role and the term has received increasing attention in recent months and years.
Hackney Wick & Fish Island has a well-established culture of self-build and DIY, driven largely by creative communities that have re-homed themselves here and adopted cheap, under-used buildings and open spaces as their workplaces and playgrounds. Although both highly productive and resourceful, this culture is also under threat - either through vicarious speculation on rising land and property values, or the continuing limbo of uncertainty surrounding stalled development proposals and changing planning legislation. What role could self-build play in the future of Hackney Wick & Fish Island? Who are self-builders, and what does it mean to ‘self-build’ here, in this place?
Calum Green will talk about the East London Community Land Trust, followed by short presentations by Gus Zogolovitch, who will talk about Custom Build Developer Solidspace’s approach to self-build and his role with the National Self Build Association, and Maximilian Goeschen, who will talk about Gaia Gallery’s project to self-build a floating permaculture barge on London's waterways using entirely natural or reclaimed materials. Sam Brown will then present the outcomes of the Motivating Collective Custom Build research project, led jointly by the University of Sheffield, Ash Sakula Architects and Design for Homes. Robin Turner will speak about the work of Diploma Unit 5 at the Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design, which has been exploring innovative new models of self-build - and Custom Build - in east London, and is now working as a designer for David Kohn Architects.
WHERE: The White Building, Unit 7 Queens Yard, White Post Lane, London E9 5EN, UK
WHEN: 13th September 2013, 7-9pm
HOW MUCH: Wick Sessions are free and open to anyone who wants to take part. Venues change with every evening.
RSVP: Places are free, no reservation necessary.
PARTICIPANTS:
Calum Green will introduce East London Community Land Trust (ELCLT) and talk through the successful campaign for London’s first Community Land Trust to be built at St Clements, in Mile End. ELCLT exists to deliver permanently affordable housing in east London, ensuring that people are no longer priced out of the neighbourhoods they grew up in. Born out of the community organising efforts of London Citizens, ELCLT is set up by, owned by and run by people who live and work in east London.
Gus Zogolovitch will talk about Solidspace’s approach to enabling Custom Build, a procurement framework through which individuals or groups can build their own home, benefiting from the support and expertise of an experienced developer. Solidspace are also leading market-testing for self-build on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Gus is also on the Board of the National Self-Build Association, which seeks to provide a single point of contact and support service for the UK self-build sector. NaSBA are actively lobbying government to make it easier for self-builders to build their own homes and support other initiatives - such as the Self Build Portal - that collect and make available useful resources for planners, policy-makers, private sector companies and individuals to get into self-build.
Maximilian Goeschen will introduce the Gaia Gallery, a floating gallery self-built onto the hulk of an old canal barge. Gaia Gallery want to complete their refurbishment themselves, using only locally-sourced natural, low-impact or reclaimed materials and have already made significant progress, fitting out their canvas-sided cabin and ballasting their boat.
Sam Brown will present the outcomes of the Motivating Collective Custom Build practice-based research project, led jointly by the University of Sheffield, Ash Sakula Architects and Design for Homes. The project sought to establish the challenges and opportunities facing a greater fulfilment of self-build in the UK housing sector, identifying pioneering initiatives and using a short, animated film to curate a web-based resource of key findings and enabling resources - www.collectivecustombuild.org.
Robin Turner will speak about the work of Diploma Unit 5 at the Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design, run by David Kohn and Silvia Ullmayer, which has been exploring innovative new models of self-build - and Custom Build - in east London. Robin is a designer at David Kohn Architects, which is developing its capacity to work as designers for Custom Build.
