For several weeks now the ecoDepot has looked like a lot of earth and a few buried pipes. Very exciting to surveyors and moles, no doubt, but pretty dull to the rest of us. Last time I visited, I thought the site looked like an empty cage at the zoo! That is set to change soon. I have heard from Agrifibre Technologies that the farmer who will be providing the straw to make the external walls of the ecoDepot has been chosen. This same farmer will be learning the skills to construct the pre-fabricated straw cladding panels. As soon as I know the name and the place, I will be out there to shoot some film so that you can see the fields where the ecoDepot’s walls were grown. We are hoping an agricultural college near York will also be involved. | "Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn’t be simpler if the council wasn’t simply sent on a quest to slay a dragon. " | |
Moving on from the insulation to the energy source, the government has now agreed substantial funding for solar panels, and noise tests will soon be carried out regarding the wind turbines. I cannot begin to express how much more exciting it is watching the skin form on a cup of hot chocolate than it is to jump through the endless hoops put in front of a complex major project such as the ecoDepot. It requires an endless supply of energy and enthusiasm to see through the cubic metres of forms that have to be filled out to move a couple of centimetres. Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn’t be simpler if the council wasn’t simply sent on a quest to slay a dragon. Kill the beast and everything slots into place. Sounds more fun to me. Except for the dragon, of course. You may have noticed elsewhere on the site that the ecoDepot has been shortlisted for St Andrews Prize for the Environment. The winner of this international award will be announced in May. It is great to be on the shortlist. Key to our entry has been our desire that the ecoDepot be more than a building. It is also a story. At the moment, a modestly exciting tale of some pipes and a load of soil but, in the coming weeks a fantastic building will emerge. Part of our difficulty in dealing with Climate Change is the vastness of the issue and our seeming irrelevance as individuals to the solution. Can switching off a single DVD player at night make a difference? No, but if there are ten million of them being switched off… Similarly, one ecoDepot won’t save the world but if we can apply the lessons learned from this building and apply them across the board… Christian, 30/3/06 | 
