Raise the Roof is a project co-ordinated by WCA in partnership with the Arts Development Company Common Ground, Plymouth University, Turner-prize winning design collective Assemble, Bridport Area Community Housing, Bridport Town Council and Bridport Community Shed. Funders include the Friends Provident Foundation and Dorset AONB, which has supported work with local farmers on field trials of hemp, which can be used for construction as well as textiles and seed.
Category: Homes
WCA Helps Local Farmers get to grips with Hemp
WCAs were successful in securing a grant from the Dorset AONB Farming in Protected Landscapes Fund to lead an investigation into Hemp as a break crop within a regenerative agricultural system. The grant, secured through the Raise the Roof project, brought together a group of local farmers and landowners to explore the opportunities and constraints READ MORE
Our series of webinars about all aspects of community-led housing
Over the course of 2020 we ran a series of webinars to explore different aspects of and steps on the way to community-led housing projects. You can see these at the links below: These webinars were developed as part of our work in developing and managing the Wessex Community Housing Hub.
A Review of 2020-21
During the year we progressed the Wessex Community Housing Hub, supported by funding from Community Led Homes. We established and supported an Advisory Panel, employed a Community Housing Advisor, Colin McDonald, and supported 25 projects. Because of COVID, public meetings were not possible, but we delivered a series of online workshops attended by or subsequently READ MORE
Raise the Roof
How do we create ecological housing, utilising natural materials and local expertise – in ways that are affordable even for those on low incomes? This is the focus of the Raise the Roof project, which is developing a model for locally rooted manufacturing and the construction or retrofitting of affordable housing, linked to regenerative land READ MORE