The Knowle West community that built a home made of straw to address housing need

The red brick community centre looks out onto Filwood Broadway – an area that was once the thriving heart of Knowle West, but is now plotted with empty buildings and boarded up windows.

It is a neighbourhood that ranks high in the Government indices of deprivation, including some of the most deprived in the country, and paints a stark picture of Bristol as a divided city, with an unequal distribution of wealth.

Filwood Broadway was once a thriving high street, with a busy cinema that now stands boarded up and swimming baths

But the community of Knowle West are creating a revolution – a back garden revolution – in which people turn developers and take housing need into their own hands in a bid to turn things around.

Through the slightly rusted railings of Filwood Community Centre, past a couple of outbuildings covered in street art, on a simple grassy plot sits the sleek timber outline of a house made of straw, a prototype for this ambitious, yet wonderfully simple initiative.

The walls are made of straw and clad in clay

“It just shows how much can be made by and within the community,” says Melissa Mean, the head of arts at Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC), who in partnership with Bristol-based architects White Design are leading the ‘We Can Make’ initiative.

The idea is to source the land and resources needed to address housing need locally, on small vacant plots and back gardens, rather than relying on “speculative developments often imposed on communities earmarked for regeneration”.

“The housing system in the UK is in crisis and we urgently need new ways to create affordable homes,” continues Mean.

“We Can Make puts people at the heart of the process to develop housing at the point of need. No more lone amateurs fighting through the planning system – we want to see people empowered to take collaborative action and create the homes they want and need, at a price they can afford.”

Fabric dyes have all been sourced from natural colours within the neighbourhood

A look at records between 2010 and 2014 reveals that planning applications were twice more likely to be rejected in Knowle West than in the more densely populated, but comparatively affluent Clifton.

The We Can Make project started in October 2016 and the prototype home, with its innovative design, cosy, open-plan living and hand-crafted quirky fixtures, all sourced and made locally, is a standing example of what can be achieved by using skills and talent within the neighbourhood.

“The key thing is not doing substandard homes, it’s designed to be as effective as possible in terms of space,” says Craig White, the founder of White Design, standing proudly in the home he helped design.

He explains that the entire house is made of natural materials and designed to be sustainable and eco-friendly.

Garry has been able to set up his own business thanks to his involvement in the home’s construction

Garry is a heating and plumbing engineer who has grown up in Knowle West and lives just a stone’s throw from the prototype home which he helped construct.

“It’s not just a local job it’s created, it’s a new business – before this, I would never have had the confidence to set up on my own. Now I’ve got a van, registered and everything and I’m set up for life,” says Garry.

Mayor Marvin Rees has given the scheme his backing and even been to stay for a night. Photo by Ibolya Feher

Everything from the fabric dyes to place mats were sourced and crafted by people in Knowle West and the project leaders are planning to take things a step further by setting up a housing factory in one of the vacant plots in Filwood Broadway.

The ‘We Can Make’ team have identified 1,500 ‘micro-sites’ in Knowle West alone that could be suitable for a new one or two-bedroom home and taking just 10 weeks to complete, the houses are a swift solution that can help meet the needs of many.

KWMC and White Design are now working with partners to begin delivery of up to 350 new homes for Knowle West, with the first houses expected to be built in Spring 2018, helping up to 700 households by creating new homes and releasing capacity in existing housing stock.

But the revolution doesn’t have to stop there, and their report details how the initiative can work for many other communities.

The garden has been created from leftover timber

Main image: (L-R) Rachel Clarke and Melissa Mean of KWMC with Craig White

Read more: Bristol’s community housing success story