All Projects
Bioregional Materials
Flax Forward
2026-Present
A community-led project that aims to celebrate Bridport’s flax-growing heritage, whilst exploring the potential of locally grown, natural materials for a sustainable future. The National Lottery Heritage Fund is supporting this project alongside the Trellis Foundation.
Flax Project I
2024-2026
The field trial programme has sought to demonstrate the value of integrating carbon-capturing crops, like flax, into agricultural rotations. Through experimentation the field trials have explored the many benefits bast fibre crops bring to both sound land use and local economic development.
Hemp Field Trials
2022-2024
Supported by a grant from Dorset AONB Farming In Protected Landscapes Fund and funding from Friends Provident Foundation with a group of West Dorset Farmers, we explored the logistics of integrating hemp as a break crop, undertaking field trials in growing, harvesting and processing hemp.
Local Materials in Construction
2016-2017
As part of a broader effort to assess local economic conditions and identify opportunities for ‘relocalisation’ of production and ownership in the Bridport area, we explored the potential to substitute local materials and resources for imported goods that are used in construction.
Woodland Social Enterprise
2013
This report describes a set of pilot social forestry projects supported by the National Association for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (NAAONB). We suggest that social enterprise approaches are an increasingly important mechanism for delivering health and well-being benefits, environmental enhancement and economic outcomes.
Bioregional Housing
Raise the Roof
2019-2023
This partnership project began in response to the local need for affordable housing in Bridport, West Dorset. Confounded by the climate crisis and economic uncertainty, we started looking for more imaginative ways of building community resilience, beginning with the people and materials of the place.
Housing for Bridport
2022
Co-design, digital fabrication and sustainable materials for the architectural production of housing futures. The three-year partnership has been supported by the EPSRC, AHRC and Forestry Commission, and has aimed to better understand social and creative innovation in rural communities.
Bioregional Housing Research
2023-2025
A series of research reports.
Retrofit
Dorset Retrofit Hub
2024-Present
We are working in partnership with three organisations to develop the Dorset Retrofit Hub: a two-year pilot project creating a community-centred approach to domestic retrofit across Dorset and BCP. We are developing a community-led retrofit programme helping residents understand their homes, plan improvements with confidence and take practical action.
Retrofit Connect
2025-2026
Retrofit Connect, led by the National Retrofit Hub is a 18-month programme of collective learning for community-led organisations and innovators who are involved in or creating retrofit initiatives within their neighbourhoods. The programme is building a picture of what community-led retrofit can achieve when citizens are supported and people come together.
Retrofit Reimagined Dorset
2024-2025
Wessex Community Asserts in partnership with Dorset Community Energy and People Powered Retrofit, led a feasibility project exploring the potential for a community-led Retrofit One Stop Shop service in Dorset. We delivered a programme of webinars and an in-person event designed to reframe retrofit as more than just a technical solution.
Community-led Housing
Wessex CLT Projects
2010- Present
The Wessex Community Land Trust Project is a long-term ongoing effort to provide technical support service for Community Housing projects. The project was set up in 2010 to be an exemplar sub-regional ‘hub’ of support and knowledge in community housing across Somerset, Devon and Dorset.
Devon, Somerset & Dorset CLT Project
2015
This research was commissioned by WCA to discover more about the factors that are fundamental to the success of CLTs. The study explored the motivations, reflections and future aspirations of volunteers involved in CLT projects in Somerset, Dorset and Devon.
Community Land Trusts: Initial Pilot Work
2003- 2008
Support for Community Enterprise
Local Food Systems
2006- 2008
We helped to set up Local Food Links Ltd: a Dorset‐based social enterprise which runs a specialist workspace, provides vocational training and community education, and runs user‐led catering services in partnership with schools and a range of older people’s organisations.
Workspace
2005-2008
Support for Community Energy
2007- 2012
