Mana Design Team

We have appointed a core team for the delivery of this eco project and we have focused on people who are on our page, who accept our lifestyle choices and want to deliver on the design goals as if the house were their house.

We have an permaculture architect who is working up the detailed construction drawings, he says he’s jealous because we’re building a house that he would love to live in.

We have a structural engineer who is making sure the house will stand up forever and that it meets building regulations. He has built his own straw bale house.

We have an ecological/green builder who will do the specialist work such as hempcrete walls and insulation. He has built his own hempcrete house and is one of a very few people with skills in hempcrete.

We have a biological innovator who is going to construct our novel drainage system. He is pretty unique in his detailed knowledge of the biology and chemistry of soils and plant life, is the leading light in wetland treatment of water and the inventor of the Wetland Ecosystem Treatment (WET) System and the Treebog all of which he consults on worldwide.

We are also hopeful of finding innovative suppliers who can provide simple solutions for our foundations and timber frame.

They all share one thing in that they are prepared to think outside the box and work with our permaculture design for the house and gardens. Many of them are embedded in the permaculture movement and can be found at Permaculture Association events around the country. And weirdly so far they all seem to be over 6 feet tall!

Unlike the planning process, the construction design process is one of cooperation and the flow of great ideas on how to meet our design goals like no concrete, natural materials that can be returned to the earth at the end of the lifecycle and simplify. In my experience, when you have the right people in the right roles the process flows easily.