We get some uplifting letters and this was one is worth sharing. Many of us like the idea of building homes, many of us like the idea of building low energy homes, not enough of us are brave enough to have a go, this guy was very brave.
Hi Wayne & Gerardine,
In 2006 I was inspired to embark on a journey to build affordable eco friendly homes and employ some of the unemployed, talented & creative individuals that were in abundance in my home town of Greenock on the west coast of Scotland.
I will not bore you too much with the details but to say, we did it, I was the designer, four of them in total built and completed in 2009 just in time for the financial collapse to put me back on a feckin oil rig to make a living. Anyway we have just had the gas bill for the last 11 months, total cost for that period, £174.75.
So here are the relevant facts in this journey.
1. I am not an architect but a mechanic
2. The cost to build was £829/m2
3. The homes were built by the unemployable
4. They looked the same as other homes
6. We also used natural paints throughout
7. We won the Herald property award for high performance homes and I had
never built one before
8. It was great craic
9. You were inspirational in a talk you gave in Inverness
10. So was Janet Street Porter
11. I am still working on an oil rig with no plans to go back into
housing but I do fancy the idea of being creative.
12. It is a crying shame the public do not know that most house builders
are building shite for the same price that I built homes that cost
£174.75 a year for gas to heat and cook with and they looked as sexy as
any other house.
Hope this is of interest to you.
Damn right its of interest to me, it should be of interest to all of us.