"Ashley Vale is a
self-build neighbourhood in Bristol made up of around 40 homes built on a
former scaffolding yard.
In the late 1990s the site was
about to be sold to a volume housebuilder. But a group of likeminded local
people persuaded the council to sell them the site instead, to develop as a
self-build neighbourhood.
It now has 40
environmentally-sustainable homes, some of them built entirely by the
residents, others put together by builders.
"For people to work around
each other on the houses is an amazing way to create a community," says Jackson
Moulding, a director of the Ashley Vale Action Group.
"There are conflicts but
in the end it worked out well." The reward is getting the house you want
at an affordable price, he says." Self-build: Should people build their own homes? By Tom
de Castella, BBC News Magazine (July 2006)
