Help build a Women's Workshop using the Walter Segal Trust Timber Frame Self Build method
We are up and running!
Link to the venue here
2008 is full of exciting opportunities to get involved in the Women's Workshop project. We now have a site in Amble where we can learn through experience and build our own workshop space. A small group of volunteers has helped to plan the first steps, with the help of Mary Kelly an architect who uses Walter Segal Self-Build Trust methods. Steps so far have included:
* Visits to the site
* Revisiting earlier planning ideas
* Deciding how to keeping the site safe
* Purchasing tools and planning further training
* Looking at involving the local community
Now we need you!
Now the site is prepared, the project needs a flow of around 15 volunteers to take part in the building process as we get the frame and the roof in place, and then to take part on a regular basis to complete the building.
Download the May - June programme of work days here>>>
Our activities so far in 2008
January
External envelope: roof, sheathing (inc. temp openings cover, floor, soffit, ceiling sub-frame
February
Services: supply & mains connections, insulation, partitions, ceiling, mark up power points/ services, plasterboard/ OSB, prepare cover strips
March
Install doors and windows, fabricate/ order shutters, Internal supply of electricity and plumbing installations. Locate, fit and finish including toilet and shower.
April
Internal finishes including cover strips, cills, linings, tiling etc, installation of ramp 1 day
*We will be running courses in tool safety and maintenance on a regular basis throughout the programme, and volunteers need to take part in one of these sessions before getting involved. The next workshop will be in June.
There is FREE childcare for 0-8 year olds at Brambles Centre very close by while the work or training takes place, and other carer and transport needs can be met if needed.
If you want to get involved but can’t make a full weekend, or want to discuss any other aspect of the project, please phone Hala 01668 217056 or email hala@nnwn.org
Background to the Women's Workshop Project 2006-8
1. Need for Project
Women are currently severely under-represented in construction and manual trades within Northumberland, with young women occupying only 1% of available places on vocational training within the county. There is also recent evidence through the Network of continuing discrimination in the workplace, where women who have successfully achieved qualifications (one with distinctions) find themselves unable to gain employment in the construction field.
This project recognises that the construction industry culture is a difficult one for women to access, and offers a women-friendly route into manual trades, through self build of a small structure and related training and enterprise support.
NNWN has experimented during 2006 to try to gauge levels of interest in this approach, and has provided support to four women, two to take part in a taster course in plumbing, and a further two are being offered mentoring and practical support to join fully accredited courses leading to joinery and plastering qualifications. There has also been a two-day 'Skills with Tools' event which attracted interest from 15 women, offering the chance to gain confidence in working with tools and site safety. These small steps represent significant progress, and demonstrate that with tailored, women-friendly projects and tasters, women are very interested in these skill areas, including several who would like to develop self-build skills so they can build their on homes in future.
2. The project
The Women's Workshop is a partnership project led by NNWN, with the Walter Segal Trust, Northumberland College and other partners in the longer term such as CITB and local employers and estate owners. It will provide both a physical space and an educational presence, built by women to create more equal access and participation to the construction and manual trades field, with a particular focus on rural women.? Women will initially take part on a voluntary basis in building a small structure, and will acquire practical knowledge and experience of environmental wood frame self-build methods. Women will be supported in taking on further learning in their preferred skills areas. The long-term aim will be to create a social enterprise offering low cost repairs and refurbishment to community groups, as well as sharing self build skills with other community-based groups. The work will also be complemented by a programme of heritage skills, involving further partners, and a future phase will involve taking on the lease of a rural property in need of refurbishment. The Amble site will also provide a venue for an adjacent organic garden, which will also enable women to acquire new skills.
Local residents will be fully involved in the project as it develops, with opportunities for mixed groups to support the development as appropriate. Young students using the construction centre will be involved in helping to clear the proposed site and in preparing the ground.
