This is the blog I have been longing to write. I went to the ecoDepot site a few days ago and met the site manager and saw the building coming together above ground for the first time. Only last weekend the site was still empty of ecoDepot offices. All the activity to build the office, which is the really special bit, was still happening below ground. But by Wednesday, like spring bulbs bursting through the winter earth, a wooden frame had appeared above ground. The ecoDepot exists! Chatting with Paul Cunningham, Mowlem’s site manager, I learn that the straw panels that will be the walls of the ecoDepot will be arriving in three or four week’s time. | "Like spring bulbs bursting through the winter earth, a wooden frame appeared above ground. The ecoDepot exists!" | |
One of the aspects of this building that those of us involved in its creation are most proud of is its replicability. There is, in truth, no shortage of landmark environmentally sustainable buildings. This may be the first sustainable council building in York but let’s not kid ourselves that it is the first in the country. That said, the ecoDepot is special because it will be the largest building of its type in Europe AND because it has the capacity to transform the building industry. Hearing Paul Cunningham speak, it is clear that he gets it. Major construction companies don’t want bales of straw kicking about their building sites, but pre-fabricated panels arriving by lorry to be bolted on are no problem at all. Paul said he could see that, in fifteen or twenty years time, thousands of buildings would be built like this. If you check out blog 2 you’ll see why the walls are such a great feature. The bottom line is this: if large construction companies like Mowlem buy into this way of building then the industry can be transformed. If the ecoDepot can achieve that, it won’t just be York praising this remarkable building. On Thursday, I am going to Easingwold to see the fields where the walls of the ecoDepot were grown. I will also be seeing at first hand the straw cladding panels being assembled. I can’t wait. Christian, 16/4/06 | 
