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Earthed Projects
This area is being updated over the next couple of months to include our most recent projects with photos...



Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetland Trust, South Gloucestershire 2009/2010


Click picture for back from the brink gallery

Back from the Brink

Earthed were contracted by Slimbridge WWT to build a cob and timber frame viewing gallery to house the new exhibition of wetland mammals on the site. The cob walls in combination with a timber frame structure supports a ˜living roof of wild flowers and are finished with a lime plaster and earthen render
Part of a larger project ˜Back from the Brink, the building was conceived by Simon Rose of Slimbridge WWT to be of the landscape in which it was located; the Trust wished to employ a more natural building method in line with its conservation philosophy, reflecting its immediate surroundings and local materials.

As artists and builders, Earthed's main objective is to raise awareness of sustainable methods of building and living through creative and practical means. All the materials were sourced either directly from the site or from as locally as possible. For example the stone plinth incorporated a dismantled old stone wall from the site in combination with locally quarried Cotswold stone, the clayey subsoil came from the old foundation excavations of the new centre and the straw was sourced from a neighbouring farm. The cob building has become a focal point for the site, demonstrating to the public what can be achieved using sustainable and reclaimed materials. Both the premise for Back from the Brink and the choice of materials selected for the building will hopefully get people thinking about important conservation issues such as wetland habitat loss and species decline and looking at minimising materials in construction using a combination of both reclaimed and un-processed and natural materials.

The project also supported the work of artists/crafts people from the wider South West incorporating sculpted timber work from both Doug King-Smith and Richard Ward-Leitso of Devon.

Back from the Brink was funded thanks to a legacy from the late Raymond Victor Safe, Viridor Credits Environmental Company, The Garfield Weston Foundation, The Dorus Trust, The Olive Herbert Charitable Trust and WWT members. Opened July 2009 to the public, the building has been a welcome addition to the site.
Visit the Wildfowl and Wetland Trusts website for more details of the project www.wwt.org.uk/visit-us/slimbridge/back-from-the-brink


Pondzone

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gallery

May 2010 Slimbridge will once again invite you to experience the new developments taking place on site which includes new amphibian breeding grounds, a play pond for younger children and a beautiful new timber frame building with living roof in their Pondzone area. Earthed worked with Julian Edmondson of Slimbridge WWT to provide an exciting teaching structure which will provide an educational space for visiting groups and is also where visitors are invited to examine there pond dipping findings.

Mythic Sculpture Garden shelter

Click picture for Mythic Sculpture Garden shelter gallery

An oak cruck frame shelter commissioned by the Mythic Sculpture Garden to shelter visitors to the sculpture exhibition and arboretum on the edge of moors in Dartmoor. The structure is built entirely using local timber, Oak, Redwood and Douglas Fir and incorporates a stained glass and redwood panel celebrating the constantly changing light in the garden. The sculpture exhibition changes each year and all the sculptures are available to buy. Visit the Mythic Sculpture Garden website for more details www.mythicgarden.eclipse.co.uk/




Cob Renovation 2007/2008

Click picture for cob renovation gallery

Earthed have been involved in a few projects involving cob renovation and repair work in Devon. Last year they spent several weeks in the sunny location of Budleigh Salterton bringing an old cob and stone garden wall to life and turning what was once a bramble ridden space into a cobbled courtyard. On various occasions during the last year Earthed have been called in to revive a 14th Century worker's cottage in Week undertaking sensitive demolition, stone and cob repair work, lime and earth plastering and laying an earthen floor.

West Exe Children's Centre 2008

Click picture for West Exe Children's Centre gallery

Cob Storytelling Space

The building was commissioned by the Royal Albert Museum and West Exe Childrens Centre as a semi-enclosed outdoor storytelling space for groups of early years children where teachers can gather with children to undertake creative projects as well as being a focal point for events held at the centre.
The building which also houses a sculpted cob oven, is intended to reflect the historical character and features found in the local architecture such as Bowhill within the fabric of the design. It is also an example of sustainable design.

Children from the West Exe Nursery and from Little Ones Nursery were both involved in helping to mix cob, build the cob seating and some of the lower walling within the building. They also created a time capsule which they later buried with cob.


An official opening took place at the beginning of June and the building is now open to the local groups who attend West Exe Centre.


What makes the design of the building so sustainable?

The Foundation- Uses local quarry tailings on a rubble trench without the need for any concrete.

The Walls- Built using a cob mix made with earth from East Devon, and locally farmed straw.

The Woodwork- Locally sourced larch, cedar, sweet- chestnut and redwood from sustainably mangaged woodlands were used for the roof sheathing, beams, posts, rafters, cruck frame, windowsills and benches. The poles were used green and in the round for minimum waste and for strength.

Natural Finishes- Natural oils have been used on some of the wood work and lime and earth plasters protect the walls allowing the building to breath.
A naturally pigmented lime paint gives extra protection to the exterior walls.

Living Roof- Adds insulation, creates a species habitat and avoids excess water run-off from the roof.

Other Features- The stone floor uses recyled stone from the centre and the stem wall and floor use a lime mortar. All this means less transport,processing, and waste, which means less pollution and a better environment for us and our children.

Venture Scotland 2008
Click picture for Venture Scotland gallery

Cob kitchen and Storytelling space

The most dramatic and remote place yet that Earthed have run a cob course!

'a neutral space for barriers to come down'

Funded by the Heritage Lottery fund as part of a larger project Earthed worked with Venture Scotland for an intensive 10 day training course were volunteers helped to build an outdoor kitchen and storytelling space at their bothy in the spectacular location of Glen Etive. Probably the remotest place yet we have built a structure!

Working with 14 volunteers we set about building the start of the kitchen and seating area using cob and roundpole timber frame which also included a Rumford fireplace and oven. Venture Scotland then went on to complete the structure over a series of weekends with more volunteers, passing on the knowledge they had acquired during the project.

The overall project was to re-establish a mutually beneficial link between people (young volunteers from Venture Scotland) and place (the highland region of Glen Etive) and the space will ultimately provide a social context for the user groups to experience traditional food, warmth and story telling in an otherwise inhospitable place.

Despite the wind and rain and a wee bit of sunshine a excellent time was had by all! Thank you Venture Scotland for creating such a welcoming and energetic space to work and play.

Venture Scotland

'Venture Scotland runs outdoor based personal development programmes for disadvantaged young people aged 16-30. Our six month programme is designed to build skills, knowledge, confidence, trainability, employablity and environmental awareness in young people who have faced personal difficulties, but are ready to make positive lasting changes in their lives. The programme consists of adventure activities, conservation, environmental education and one to one support.. At the heart of Venture Scotland's work are residential trips to the Scottish wilderness using Bothy's (mountain huts) as bases. Here young people are able to find peaceful, inspiring space, away from the negative influences of their often chaotic urban lives and have a unique opportunity to reflect, recharge batteries and prepare for their own personal challenges.'
For more details, please visit their website www.venturescotland.org.uk where you will also find further photos of their continued work on the cob kitchen/storytelling space.

A poem written collectively during one of the daily 'Cob Councils'

The bright light gives life,
nature never ceases to amaze me
Flying, opening up and letting it all out
Sun sparkling on water; stags watching
Chisels dazzling in the light
Third time lucky!
Seeing the big chunker near the end
Working in warm sunshine
Looked for stone but cannae find it

Together... we build inspiration and happiness
within an aura of creativity
We belong to something
Its a very very very very very fine house
When you're warm enough on the inside
the coldest mountain stream is refreshing

Smooth, sharp and soft sand against my cheek
Taken aback by this mass of production growing around me.


Treborough Woodland Campsite 2008

Click picture for Treborough Woodland Campsite gallery

Basics of Cob Building 7 day workshop & Cob Oven Workshop

Workshop participants discovered how it’s possible to use the ground beneath their feet to sculpt a cob compost loo and a sculpted cob oven.

Located in the heart of 'cob country' this beautiful 56 acre site is situated in the stunning landscape of the Exmoor National Park, located 10 miles away from the historic and picturesque town of Minehead. Treborough Woods sit at the foot of the Brendon Hills 800ft above sea level; it is an ancient oak and beech woodland, mentioned in the Doomsday Book.

Our hosts Beverley and Alan created a warm and welcoming space for us. Liz & Beverley had been on a previous oven course of ours at Beenleigh Meadows, Devon, and they successfully went on to build their own oven with friends and family at the campsite. We therefore had the delight of tasting wonderful food cooked by Liz and Beverley from the oven during both workshops.

A glorious sunny weekend was the backdrop for sculpting the Treborough Owl oven September 2007, which sits perched on another fantastic beech wood foundation built by Alan, to match the existing oven.

Despite being one of the most miserable weeks of weather this year 2008 (which is saying something) we soldiered on to build half of the compost loo which continues to be completed by Alan and Beverley and some of those that attended the workshop.

The majority of materials for both workshops were sourced from the land, with stone for the loo foundation, threshold and windowsills coming from the old slate quarry and a fallen down beech tree coming in handy for the oven foundations. Clayey subsoil for the cob and timber for the roof were also located on site.

Looking forward to seeing the finished "loo with a view"!

Higher Michelcombe Farm, Holne 2008

Click picture for Higher Michelcombe Farm, Holne gallery

Basics of Cob Building/ Living Roofs/ Natural Finishes

During a series of 4 different workshops participants discovered how it's possible to use the ground beneath their feet to sculpt a cob animal shelter.
Located at the beautiful rural location of Higher Michelcombe Farm, nestled within Dartmoor National Park, participants joined in 2 weekend Basics of Cob workshops, a living roof workshop and a natural finishes workshop during various stages of the build.

This new build project offered excellent opportunities to local residents and people from the wider community interested in inspirational building techniques to spend time connecting with the earth in a fun and creative way. The project was part funded by The Dartmoor Sustainable Development Fund.

Our host Jackie Parsons (who kept us going with some fabulous homemade muffins) got involved in all of the workshops along with her son Ollie who has spent a good deal of time with some help from others to continue the build between workshops.

An open day for the animal shelter is planned for next Spring although I'm sure the sheep are itching to get in over the Winter!

Wythenshawe Park, Manchester 2006

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Cob Education space

Earthed worked in collaboration with Manchester City Council on what could be Manchester's most sustainable building, a cob education space in Wythenshawe Park's Horticultural centre.

The foundations were built using reclaimed stone from the park and local quarry tailings. The earth for the walls was dug from the site. The roof was constructed using roundpole larch and cedar from a sustainably managed woodland.

Earthed ran educational workshops with 2 local schools, Rackhouse and St Aidens primary schools to help sculpt the cob benches within the building. Artists Cherry Cheung and Angela Sidwell also involved the schools with decorative details helping towards the carving of the entrance posts and the weaving of willow and hazel shutters.

An official opening took place at the end of July and the building is now open to school and park groups to use and enjoy.

Plan and sketch of the cob building in Wythenshawe, showing the unusual plan of the building and the leaf-shaped roof structure.

Low Impact Living Initiative (LILI) 2005-2008


Click picture for LILI's workshops gallery

Weekend Workshops in Basics of Cob and Oven Building

Earthed have been running workshops at LILI based at Redfield Community in Buckinghamshire for the past 3 years. These have ranged from a "Gruffalo" cob oven, a seating area with shelving around the existing oven and a cob sauna located in an old brick building by the pond.

“LILI is a non-profit organisation based in the stable block of Redfield Community, a Victorian mansion in 18 acres just outside Winslow, Buckinghamshire, whose mission is to help people reduce their impact on the environment, improve their quality of life, gain new skills, live in a healthier and more satisfying way, have fun and save money�. They run a variety of courses throughout the year. For more information see website www.lowimpact.org

This year LILI have branched out to run courses at different venues around the country. Earthed were called up north to Derbyshire to run a weekend Basics of Cob workshop at Unstone Grange www.unstonegrange.co.uk where participants helped sculpt a beautiful cob stupa (a funerary monument in the shape of a dome or pyramid, containing a relic of a Buddha or some other objects of veneration).


Beenleigh Meadows Farm 2006-2007

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Sculpted Cob Oven & Animal Shelter and Basics of cob 7 day and Oven workshops

Earthed were awarded a grant from the National Lottery's Awards For All scheme to work with Beenleigh Meadows Farm and local groups which included South Devon Steiner School near Totnes, BTCV in conjunction with a refugee group from Plymouth and other members of CSF aged 19-25. The project involved building a sculpted cob oven to be used by the farm for the numerous community events they host and to start the walls for animal shelter to house their sheep during the colder months. This culminated in a feast and open day where tasty pizzas and breads were cooked and shared among the visitors.

Earthed ran 2 workshops at Beenleigh Meadows - a 7 day basics of Cob workshop and a weekend oven workshop during the summer of 2007. We managed to squeeze in the last bit of sunshine before the following months downpour and enjoyed a fine feast daily by the on site chef's Louise, Chris and their son Rowan.

Beenleigh Meadows Farm is a site member of Community Supportive Farming
Community Supported Farming (CSF), www.greenlistings.co.uk/devoncsf/
is local voluntary organisation, set up in 2003 to helps re-connect communities in South Devon to the land and farms that surround them. The have worked closely with refugee and school groups in the past as well as wider members of the community. They run a variety of courses and events from rural skills training to fungal forays and bug hunts.

The site hosts of Beenleigh Meadows are Stephanie and Christian Taylor who own a
22.5 acre agricultural holding working with local groups such as CSF, Trees for Health, DEFRA’s Environmental Stewardship Scheme and BTCV to set up a sustainable farm enterprise.

Sure Start, Nelson 2006

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Sculpted Cob Oven
Earthed worked with Sure Start, Nelson, nr Burnley during a weekend workshop to build a cob oven. Parents and children got involved in both gardening and cob activities during the course of the weekend.

Cae Mabon 2005

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Natural Finishes Workshop

Earthed headed to the magical site of Cae Mabon in North Wales to run a Natural Finishes workshop for an existing cob guesthouse built there during a Cob Cottage course in 2004 and finished during several volunteer weekends 2005-2006.
Participants learnt about lime and earth plasters and clay, lime and milk paints. The following Spring some of the previous participants came and helped Earthed lay an earth floor.
The Cae Mabon Retreat Centre was established in 1989 and has continued to evolve in to “a family of beautiful, natural, earthy structures�. Set in an ancient oak woodland with views of Snowdon it provides a fantastic space for groups to meet, retreat work and play.

Green Health Partnership 2005


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Earthed collaborated with Green Health Partnership based in Shipley Park, Derbyshire to build a cob garden shelter which was to be a blank canvas for a community arts project. Click here for more details

Chy-an community field 2005


cob sea serpent bench click picture for Chyan sea serpent gallery

Sea Serpent cob bench

Earthed collaborated with Chy-an community field near Falmouth in Cornwall to run a cob building workshop and build a shelterd cob seating area for visitors and users to enjoy when they come to the site. The project was funded by a Living Spaces grant. The workshop was a great success and the structure was completed at a later date with a living roof of plants from the local vicinity and a lime plaster.

Pow Wow Eco Arts 2005-2006

click picture for Pow Wow Eco Arts chaise longue & oven

Sculpted cob chaise longue & Owl cob oven

Earthed worked with Pow Wow Eco Arts based at MERCI in Manchester on 2 occasions. The first project we were brought in to run a one day course during Green Architecture Week 2005 where attendees of the conference got involved in different practical workshops. Earthed went onto complete the seating with a lime plaster and a roundpole timber structure with living roof.

The following year Earthed were asked to run a cob oven workshop at Fallowfields park in Manchester working with volunteers to create a resource for the local community.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park 2005

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Sculpted cob oven

Earthed ran a weekend workshop at the beautiful rural location of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. www.ysp.co.uk/view.aspx?id=3 Set in 500 acres of 18th century parkland, it is an international centre for modern and contemporary art. They run a variety of arts and crafts workshops throughout the year.

Paces Campus Sheffield 2004


Top cat oven at Paces Campus,High Green, Sheffield click picture for Top Cat Earth Oven gallery

Top Cat Earth Oven

Earthed in collaboration with C.I. arts ran a weekend cob oven building workshop at Paces Campus in High Green Sheffield where they built a sculpted oven with roundpole roof. The oven was fired up children from the Youth club at the centre to cook pizzas and bake potatoes. It is intended that the oven can be used by various groups at the campus for events and meetings.The project was funded by the Fair Play Partnership small grants programme.

Grow Your Own Building Project 2003


cob potting shed and builders click picture for details of individual projects

Creating sustainable buildings at CCN sites using the ancient earth sculpting techniques of cob building.The Grow Your Own Building Project is an innovative touring project where sustainable builders and artists Earthed have been working at a number of Community Composting Network (CNN) sites holding a series of educational workshops in building with cob, raising awareness of sustainable building and living.Open to a diverse range of people from the community, each project will be left with a beautiful sculpted structure which will also be of practical benefit to the partner sites and serve as a public example of the benefits of sustainable building. Cob is an ancient earth building technique which uses a mixture of sand, earth, straw and water to form a cheap but incredibly strong building material. Parts of the Great Wall of China were built with it, as were thousands of cottages around Britain, many of them up to 350 years old (See here for more information about cob). The project has been funded by the New Opportunities fund through the Seed Programme and in kind funding from the CCN member sites.
    

Heeley City Farm 2002


Dragon oven in action - click picture for ovens & benches gallery

Dragon oven and seating

Built during a community workshop, this working bread oven and seating area evolved into the shape of a fire breathing dragon. Since then it has been used to cook tasty treats for events taking place at the farm, acting as a focus for community involvement at the site. Built with all local, mostly recycled and natural materials, the bench and oven is covered with a timber structure supporting a living roof planted with sedum.

Cob House and Garden Sanctuary, California 2001



Click picture to view Cob House and garden sanctuary gallery

An ongoing project for 3 years, the initial phase of this house and garden sanctuary space was undertaken during a series of cob workshops. The completion culminated in a culmination of creative development and hard work during another hot California summer, by Earthed, Rob Pollacek, Simon Holmes and Madeleine Curtis so it could be moved into before the fast approaching winter.The cob house features an earthen floor, natural plasters and paints and a cob bench heated by a rocket stove.

Cob Compost Shrine 2001



Click picture to view Compost Shrine gallery

Anybody aiming to live sustainably will probably realize that it's a good idea to compost all the waste material you can and turn it into a resource. However since most people seem to have a deep 'feacophobia' at heart and usually grimace and turn their noses up the merest mention of composting loos, we decided what was needed was to build a shrine to composting, unrecogniseable from the usual vision of a dark smelly closet that most people would want to avoid! Our client and Earthed wanted to create the atmosphere of a temple, a celebration of the closure of a circle, from food to waste back to valuable resource!

Plasters & Finishes




Click picture to view Plasters & Finishes gallery

Structures can be finished with a finer version of the same materials as cob. Their effect can have dazzling and uplifting effects on a home with sparkling mica washes, sunny casein paints and sculptural bas relief work. Earthed can work with you to bring light and magic into your home, be it cob or conventionally built houses.