Passivhaus Trust

The Passivhaus Trust is an independent, non-profit organisation that provides leadership in the UK for the adoption of the Passivhaus standard and methodology. Passivhaus is the leading international low energy, design standard. Over 65,000 buildings have been designed, built and tested to this standard worldwide.

The Trust aims to promote Passivhaus as a highly effective way of providing high standards of occupant comfort and health as well as reducing energy use and carbon emissions from buildings in the UK.

Irish Vernacular

Dominic Stevens of Irish Vernacular: “The notion of the Commons in a society is important to me. It is primarily understood by people in the form of common land, where a whole community shared grazing rights. Through enclosure, space for common land has been eroded overtime and it is no longer part of our agricultural system. Other aspects of commons have been eroded too, knowledge held in common is not valued anymore in a society of experts. We fetishise individual genius and place competition as the societal driving force.”

Architects Declare

Architects Declare is a network of architectural practices committed to addressing the climate and biodiversity emergency.

Under the wider banner of ‘Construction Declares’, it has now spread to more than 20 different countries, with over 5,000 signatories, and has been adopted by other built environment disciplines that have signed up to variations on the original 11-point declaration.

Architects Declare is about encouragement, with every signatory organisation expected to self-govern its progress toward achieving the commitments it has made. On the basis that no single architect is currently meeting every part of the radical commitment to change, a firm ‘no public blame and shame’ policy is in place.

AECB

The AECB (Association for Environment Conscious Building) is a network of individuals and companies with a common aim of promoting sustainable building.
Running since the 1980's the AECB are the largest and oldest network for sustainable building.

They bring together contractors, trades people, self builders, architects, designers, engineers, manufacturers, housing associations, local authorities and academics to help develop, share, train and promote sustainable building best practice. They promote excellence in design and construction.

Rural Studio

Rural Studio is an off-campus design-build program part of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture of Auburn University. The program, established in 1993 by D.K. Ruth and Samuel Mockbee, gives architecture students a hands-on educational experience while assisting under-resourced communities of West Alabama’s Black Belt.

The Rural Studio philosophy suggests that everyone, both rich and poor, deserves the benefit of good design. In its initial years, the Studio became known for establishing an ethos of recycling, reusing, and remaking. In 2001, after the passing of Samuel Mockbee, Andrew Freear succeeded him as director. The students work within the community to define solutions, fundraise, design and, ultimately, build remarkable projects.

IWW

The IWW is a revolutionary global union, fighting for better conditions today and economic democracy tomorrow. By training our members in powerful organising methods, direct-action and direct-democracy, we put power in the hands of workers.

We believe that ordinary people are best placed to lead and create change, both at work and in society. We put our members in charge, training each and every one to build and lead their workplace unions, organise their own campaigns and take the action that wins.

We’re an active and fighting union. We know solidarity is strength, and we prove it by looking after each other. We provide advice and representation when you have problems at work, but we’re much more than that.

Passive House Plus

Passive House Plus is the world's first English language magazine focused on building and upgrading to the world's leading low energy standard - passive house. Published in separate UK and Irish editions, the magazine's focus extends beyond energy efficiency to take in indoor air quality, water usage and the environmental impact of materials. The magazine won the Business to Business Magazine of the Year award at the Irish Magazine Awards in December 2012.

Walter Segal

Walter Segal was a German Architect who pioneered an empowering self build technique that used ‘off the shelf’ products in a style that could be built with little previous building experience. Ridding the construction process of many ‘wet trades’ such as brick laying and plastering allowed pioneering self builders to construct beautiful, inexpensive homes. The system produced lightweight, simple, timber buildings that often had levels of insulation comparable with levels expected today. The process often created tight knit communities many of which are still thriving today.