Hab | Happiness – Architecture – Beauty

Why? Because Liftshare Week runs from the 4th to the 8th of October.
And because we’re OBSESSED with cutting down car journeys. We put an awful lot of time into making it easy and enjoyable for residents in our projects to cycle, or walk, or take the bus. And if you DO have to drive, we really REALLY like being able to log on to Liftshare to find somebody
who wants to come too.
It saves money; it cuts down your carbon footprint; but most of all it offers boundless potential for chance encounters and random chat.

Why? Because we’re all for celebrations. Particularly when they’re to
do with food. And we’re feeling especially fond of apples now that we’re
working on a housing project in Stroud, a town with its sights set firmly
on becoming the Apple Capital of the UK. And we’re big fans of Common
Ground, a generally heroic-without-being-too-sanctimonious organization
that established Apple Day in protest against the destruction of British
orchards. Check out the list of apple-related high jinks in your neck of
the woods. For our part, we’ll be competing in the ‘Longest of the Longest’
apple peeling competition. Prizes include Somerset brandy (yum!) and,
um, a book about apples. But all we care about is beating Robert Allen
from Hertfordshire, the Apple Day Reigning Champ, who managed
to make a single piece of peel a whopping 37 feet long.
After all, it’s the winning that counts.

Why? Because we’re using hemcrete – a mixture of hemp and lime –
to build our first project, the Triangle, a development of 42 homes in Swindon. It’s a healthy, affordable way of getting houses that are well insulated and simple to build. And – get this – it makes it possible to LOCK
UP carbon dioxide within the fabric of the building, a neat little trick
that means our houses will save 30 to 50 tonnes of carbon dioxide
compared with a conventional house. Bingo!

Why? Because Luke Engleback is, quite simply, the best landscape
architect we know. He helps us to make sure that our projects IMPROVE
rather than detract from the biodiversity of existing sites; where drainage
and flooding issues are dealt with by swales and ponds and river banks
and reeds as opposed to BIG concrete pipes; where streets are richly-
textured places where peoplewant to ride a bike, or linger, or play,
as opposed to park a car and run away. Where the landscape is one
big larder: edible hedgerows, kitchen gardens,allotments, orchards.
Did we mention we like food?

HABBY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. HABBY BIRTHDAY TO YOU.
HABBY BIRTHDAY DEAR LU-UKE……