42 BRIEF ENCOUNTERS
adopted Scottish building regulations… and then bettered them.’ Windows are large, and sit low in the wall so that you can still get a great view of the garden or the street when seated. Ceilings are higher than the minimum recommended (these are 2,550mm, compared with the standard 2,400mm). Windows are triple-glazed, the terraced houses have skylights over staircases, and upper floor ceilings are vaulted. Acoustics and insulation are also of a much higher standard. Tere is a large area given over to
vegetable growing – a degree of self-sufficiency was a major ambition. An orchard has also
been planted in one of the two small fields at the top of the site, boundaried by ancient hedges. Te other field is as yet undesignated, though ‘the children have already taken over that big oak tree, and built dens’ says King. She and her partner live in a one-bedroom socially rented apartment, which is every bit as light- filled and spacious as the two-bedroomed houses we see.
An unfinished building sits at the centre of the site – the common house, a straw bale, timber frame project that currently has a roof, floors, ceilings, walls but no windows. Funding ran out for completing this prior to the
Above The brick and timber-clad terraces are set into a sloping greenfield site, next to Bridport’s hospital
Left The site will evenutally contain 50 homes
residents moving in. Says Goss: ‘Te group have been doing extraordinary work – self- funding and also self-building this.’ What were the worst moments during this long evolution? Residents cite the constantly shifting goalposts when funding or housing association partners change (there have been five up to now); the scheme also had to expand accommodation in order to fund Phase Two, bringing the total to over 50 homes, when 30 is considered optimal. It still represents incredible value for money: 50 homes for £9.5m costs (for 3,779m2
GIA). Goss’s lowest point was ‘the first pre-
application meeting with the local authority, when this group was being framed as private developers by planners. I decided let’s be the torchbearers and push into the dark places.’ Tey went to committee, and won. Barefoot now has a few cohousing and self-build schemes on its books, ‘and planning is a constant battle in every project we’re doing,’ says Goss. Tough he’s frustrated by schemes being refused ‘on the basis of their being atypical’, now, he says, ‘I let it go to committee, because every time it goes to committee it gets through.’ He stayed motivated through the ups and
downs, because ‘I’ve a real sense of compassion for the people who’ve been driving it. I’m really passionate about alternative housing. I’ve always believed in it.’ Hopefully, if a few more people read about this one, they will too.
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