Wednesday 22 August 2012

Alternative Housing Solutions.


Wow, what a mad couple of days! Thank you to all who have read our blog and are following our progress. We have had loads of feedback, all positive which is great.

Today I (Suzi) headed out to our local shop and was amazed to see a camping pod in their car park! Intrigued, I went and had a look and WOW! It was absolutely fantastic. A great space and strangely calming environment. Its all made of wood so it smelt great too. It got me thinking, we could all live in a big one of these, so home i came and consulted Mr internet.

The pod I saw today was made by these guys, http://www.podcampingireland.co.uk and looked like this :

                                                                      Its so cool!

When I went on the web and looked at alternative housing options I was amazed and what I saw. Some people have made the most amazing homes out of so little materials, through sheer hard work. The homes I have looked at have been simple structures that have been made beautiful by there owners.

                                                         inplainaircenter.wordpress.com

This is a yurt, made using the original mongolian yurt building methods but it's been adapted to meet the requirements of its current owners.
You think the outside looks cool? Look at the inside of this one.

                                                                   houselogic.com

Every home comfort you could ask for in what is essentially a tent. Personally i think its amazing.

So this got me thinking as obviously we need something that has to house 4 adults and 7 kids, not to mention the cats!! What if we combined the yurt with the pods? What if we had the pods as bedrooms and a bathroom and the yurt as a kitchen/living area? Would this work? Could we infact grow Operation Better Life into a community?

The biggest issue with this idea is of course good old uk planning regulations. You need full residential planning permission if you are going to live in it full time. From as far as I can see it completely depends on what council area you live in as to whether permission will be granted. I've found stories of people who have been successful but equally I have found plenty that have had it refused.

It does appear however that it is something that councils are going to have address sooner rather later as these students from the University of Falmouth have shown, 
http://www.falmouthpeople.co.uk/Yurt-kidding-Falmouth-students-novel-housing/story-12756859-detail/story.html

I intend to do more research into the cost implications, as far as I can see the highest cost will be land to erect it on.

We would love to hear from any off you that  have sucessfully got planning and are living in an alternative housing solution. It has certainly given us all food for thought.

Dont forget if you would like to get on board and support our project, Operation Better Life then you can send donations via www.paypal.com to operationbetterlife@live.co.uk


Thanks for reading.

Suzi xxx



2 comments:

  1. i think that is very important to select a good apartment, with a good location, a good price, where there are good neighbors. I like quiet, peace, harmony,security. For me is very important the floors, my favorite floor is the second because it is a little cold. The apartment should be nice, clear, big and it should have a big terrace, bigs windows, and a good landscape .


    Kingsmill Studios | Closest student accommodation to Huddersfield University

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  2. Wow,really liked your post.You mentioned unorthodox type of apartments.To be honest student accommodation UK should be quite simple to find and should be nearby to universities.

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