Building sustainable communities, a permaculture design course

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Provisional details

This course looks at how we can design human 'eco-systems'; working collaboratively with one another to care for the planet and ourselves

January – May 2011, 13 weekend days, dates to be confirmed

Building sustainable communities is a hands-on course – we get outside to learn. Includes visits to:

• Ben Law’s working woodland 
• 'green' buildings 
• permaculture and organic gardens 
• sustainability projects in the Brighton & Hove area

Tutors include Bryn Thomas, Daniel Holloway, Jen Beaufoy, Kate Hamilton and Pippa Johns, with guest speakers.

Entrance requirements

Prior to attending Building Sustainable Communities - A Permaculture Design Course it is necessary to have completed an introduction to permaculture course, either Brighton Permaculture Trust’s 2-day Introduction to Permaculture Course or a equivalent course elsewhere. Please do not reserve a place on Building Sustainable Communities unless you have attended or are booked a place on an introduction to permaculture course that runs before 30 January 2010.

Dates

13 weekend days: 1 Saturday and 6 weekends January - May 2011
Most days will run 9.45am-5.30pm

Venues

Most course sessions will be held at Earthship Brighton at Stanmer Park just outside Brighton. Click here for directions to our meeting point at Stanmer Park. Other venues will include locations in and around Brighton, as well as visits to:

• Stanmer Organics 
• Natural woodlands 
• Prickly Nut Wood, working woodland in West Sussex 
• Pippa John’s garden 
• A forest garden 
• Other places of interest

We facilitate lift sharing to travel to the more remote locations and for visits.

Click here for details of local accommodation and to find out about Brighton Permaculture Trust supporters who can provide accommodation in their homes.

What is Permaculture?

Permaculture design is about practical ecological strategies for land, water, buildings, people and communities. It is based on the philosophy of cooperating with nature and caring for the earth and its peoples.

The word Permaculture is derived from permanent agriculture and permanent culture, but offers a perspective on all aspects of building a sustainable future, and affecting your life for the better. Permaculture encourages us to use our individual skills, knowledge and interests, whilst drawing on traditional wisdom, science and our innate ability to observe and learn from the world around us. Whether your interest is gardening, farming, planning, building homes, community work, economic regeneration, business or green lifestyles, the application of Permaculture principles empowers you to make a positive contribution towards a sustainable future.

The course

The course enables participants to integrate a self-reliant, pragmatic, ecological approach to work, life, gardens, homes and communities. It is valuable for anyone wishing to add a Permaculture perspective to their existing skills, and to community workers, teachers, architects, planners, landscapers, foresters, agriculturists and conservationists.

The sessions cover:

• Ethics and principles of Permaculture 
• Design process and methodology 
• Soil structure and conservation 
• Trees and woodland management 
• Cultivated ecology: gardens and farms 
• Community development and organisation 
• Building effective learning groups 
• Real wealth, money and sustainable exchange 
• Attendance of the Green Architecture Day
• Urban challenges and urban permaculture, including transport 
• Energy conservation and renewable energy

We use group work, discussion, observation, guided walks, home study and practical activities, lectures, videos, and slides as learning methods. An emphasis is put on Action Learning throughout. Participants come to understand how they learn and the group members support each other during the course.

You will get to work on a major design activity – an opportunity for you to learn and apply your skills and knowledge as the course progresses.

A resource list is provided along with handouts (included in the course fee). Two useful books are: Permaculture in a nutshell by Patrick Whitefield and Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison. Discounted Books can be ordered during the course

Accreditation

The course follows the 72-hour international Permaculture Design Course syllabus and so qualifies participants for the Permaculture Design Course completion certificate awarded by the Permaculture Association (Britain). This has to be gained before you can use the word 'permaculture' in part of your work as a professional or with the public, such as being a gardener, a teacher, a designer, giving talks about permaculture, etc. To qualify you must attend a minimum of 11 days of the course including the last weekend and complete the design workshop.

In previous years this course has been accredited by Open College Network South East Region - if you are particularly interested in obtaining this qualification please let us know when you register for the course. (Please note that a separate fee would be charged for this accreditation.) Read more...

What can the course lead on to?

Once you have gained the Permaculture Design Course completion certificate, you could go on to work for a Diploma in Permaculture Design. This is usually a two year, action learning study period where you apply what you've learned, and design Permaculture into your life and work, and then present your designs. You design it yourself - in fact designing your Action Learning Pathway is one of the designs that you could present as part of the Diploma - and Brighton Permaculture Trust runs a 'node' of the Diploma WorkNet to support you in this, with regular meetings you help you on your Pathway.

Course tutors and speakers include

Alex Penn, Permaculturist with expertise in natural eco-systems (To be confirmed).

Ben Law Dip Perm Des. As featured on Channel 4’s Grand designs programme. Woodsman, green wood builder, teacher and author.

Bryn Thomas Dip Perm Des. Permaculture trainer and designer. Passions include growing fruit, forest gardening, green building and organisational design.

Daniel Holloway, Designer & maker of sustainable systems, mechanical and ecological with permaculture as an underlying influence.

Jen Beaufoy, permaculture teacher and designer, horticulturalist and environmental education tutor.

Kate Hamilton, course convenor and permaculture teacher with a focus on learning and action for social change.

Pippa Johns Dip Perm Des. Permaculture teacher and designer; runs Edible Gardens plant nursery and design consultancy (To be confirmed).

Fees

Fees include tuition and refreshments.

£800 - Sponsored/organisation rate
£800 - Individual income more than 25k/yr
£650 - Individual income 18-25k/yr
£480 - Individual waged less than 18k/yr
£320 - Individual, concessionary rate

Concessionary rates are available to people in receipt of means-tested benefits (including housing benefit, council tax benefit and working tax credit), also full-time students and OAP s.

We endeavour to make our courses/events affordable to all. Unfortunately we do not receive any external funding for most of our courses/events and rely on large amounts of voluntary input.

See the cancellations and refunds policy.

Booking

Please contact us if you would like to be informed when full details of this course are announced.

Advance booking is essential. This course usually books up within a few days.

Payment can be made in full, or a place can be secured by paying a 50% deposit. If a deposit is paid then the remainder is due in a single payment in January 2011.

You can pay online at the time of booking using a credit/debit card or paypal. This is our preferred option as it saves us administration time. It is usually also possible to pay by cheque/postal order, however this option will not be available on the form in the 2 weeks leading up to the course/event, or if it is nearly fully booked. A place is not secured until we have received the requested payment and reservations will only be valid for 3 working days.

You will receive email confirmation of your registration and further emails from us; please check your spam or junk email folder (especially Hotmail account holders).

Contact us

For further information or if you have problems with your registration please contact us.