Community self-building ''worked in Bristol''

Ashley Vale is a unique self-build community that has single-handedly beaten off profit-driven property developers in Bristol, according to the Guardian.

Graham Cain envisaged the project where a group of neighbours called the Ashley Vale Action Group outbid a property developer for an area of disused inner city land and then sold it as 26 plots to individual self-builders.

This notion of community-based development also meant that the homes are environmentally-friendly because all the self-builders signed an agreement to abide by a set of ecological building principles.

Carrie Hitchcock, one of the self-builders, told the Guardian: "We self-builders had developed a strong group identity and a united sense of purpose.

"There was no obligation to work collectively, but we often did, and these were the best of times."

She even said there were foundation-pouring parties when everyone suddenly began materialising with wheelbarrows and shovels one day.

After a year of building she moved into her new four-bedroom property.


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