Earthship "Pockets of Freedom" Planning Permission Europe and UK

Discussion in 'Designing, building, making and powering your life' started by Tacopowell, Sep 10, 2015.

  1. Tacopowell

    Tacopowell New Member

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    So, I've recently been taken aback by the style, technology and principles of Earthships,
    Looking ahead of potential obstacles, the one key issue across the "developed" world when building not just earthships but other Sustainable eco buildings is the difficulty in Planning Permission,
    There is currently a map of the USA showing "Pockets of Freedom" pointing out where it is possible to gain Permission,
    Does anyone know of a global map?
    It's clear that European Planning rules are old and tough,
    There are a three earthships in the UK but non of them are actually homes!
    Does anyone know where the laws are more relaxed towards Planning Permission?

    Surely areas where there are already established residential earthships would be more relaxed to the idea of a second one?

    Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.....
     
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  2. Brian Knight

    Brian Knight Junior Member

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    Cant offer anything extra as far as avoiding building codes and would encourage you to embrace them as a level of minimum performance. Earthships are awesome in their ideologies and philosophies but do have many questionable construction details. Their main performance advantages like passive solar, earthberm and water usage characteristics can be obtained without adhering to the eccentric earthship details that many planning authorities have problems with.
     
  3. OptimisticCynic

    OptimisticCynic New Member

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    The direct advantages of earthships come from solar heating/greenhouse, thermal mass/insulation and passive air movement systems. Building codes are concerned with safety and not upsetting the neighbors. The primary safety issues with earthships are the structural strength to support all of that mass, and the effectiveness of the air movement system. Any place where the water table is deep enough to allow basements will allow you to place the thermal mass below everything else, eliminating the structural concerns. This placement of the mass means that separate insulation is needed. A greenhouse/solar collector can be attached or separate as the local codes allow. Separation of the parts means that more air movement is needed. Passive systems alone may not be adequate or you may need to include active air movement to satisfy the building codes.
    The big issue with neighbors (and building permit granters) is resistance to the unknown. The trick is to show how each separate part in your design is comparable to some specific thing already in the code. Comparisons of parts must be made to specific, already approved, products and designs. Do not bother trying to thoroughly explain your design as a whole, they probably will not understand it until they see it in action.
    There will probably be some way to rearrange and / or substitute the parts needed to achieve the desired results from your eco building project in almost any community. Just be willing to change your design to fit into the neighborhood.
     

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