Hill Holt Woods Project 2

Hill Holt Wood (HHW) is a 14 hectare deciduous woodland situated on the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire border, just off the A46.

The site has developed a social enterprise that currently employs fourteen people including the owners themselves. The social enterprise primarily provides vocational training for young people (who have been excluded from school or are unemployed) and it has contracts for this with statutory agencies. Through the education and training provided HHW are able to address wider issues relating to youth crime, dysfunctional behaviour and educational exclusion.

Hill Holt Wood is a living wood with the founders living on site and plans for five eco-houses for employees has been submitted to North Kesteven District Council. This 'Living Wood' approach to woodland management attracts people to the site who may otherwise be concerned with accessing woodlands alone, such as women and families. The wood is used extensively by the local community and hosts a variety of social and educational activities.

The work being carried out at HHW while appearing to be unique as a whole package within England is relevant to a range of current national and regional issues. Policies focusing on education, health, youth justice, rural development social enterprise as well as direct woodland and countryside management are relevant to the work being carried out at HHW.

Since August 2005, Hill Holt Wood has been moving forward in its desire to make the site an exemplar sustainable rural community. Once completed the community will include 5 houses and community hall, built to the highest possible standards of sustainability, in Hill Holt. These buildings will provide both models of sustainable ecobuild in a rural settings, as well as a centre of learning about sustainability and ecobuild. While the entire project has received Outline Planning Permission, the Woodland Community Hall received Full Planning Permission in August 2006. The building design is the result of an collaborative effort between Hill Holt Wood, the University of Lincoln and Simons Design of Lincoln. The building will include a circular rammed earth conference hall with a reciprocal frame roof, wood framing and cladding from Hill Holt Wood, a solar photovoltaic array, a biofuel micro-chp system with underfloor heating, an electrical storage battery array, recycled floor tiling and insulation, rainwater harvesting and be integrated with the adjacent permaculture garden. The Woodland Community Hall will include further features in its drive to construct a building that produces significantly less Carbon Dioxide in its construction and operation than another building of equivalent size.


Hill Holt Wood
Norton Disney
Lincolnshire
LN6 9JP
t: 01636 892836
e:  admin@hillholtwood.com
 http://www.hillholtwood.com

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Hill Holt is a woodland based project. Here in Nottingham, there is EcoWorks at StAnns. An alotment based project.
Straw Bale work on eco-building in St.Anns [and 20 others, showing pogress]

 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/07/375507.html

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ALAN LODGE
Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham. UK
Email:  tash@gn.apc.org
Web:  http://tash.gn.apc.org
Member of the National Union of Journalists [No: 014345]
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"It is not enough to curse the darkness.
It is also necessary to light a lamp!!"
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