Updates
As the RUSS Community Hub build is nearing its final stages, we'd like to invite all our amazing volunteers and supporters to come see the result of our collective hard work, sweat and a lot of tea and biscuits. On Saturday 21st September from 12 - 4pm the Community Hub will be open for public viewing as part of Open House London. We are delighted to be one of a number of projects funded via Crowdfund London that are being showcased during Open House this year. The RUSS hub core volunteer team will be on site to answer questions on the day and explain the project and we'll also be giving a series of short talks about the project at 1pm, 2pm and 3pm. There will also be a display of photos of the build and our wonderful volunteers that made it all possible. See here for more details including how to get there: https://openhouselondon.open-city.org.uk/listings/8355. When visiting; - Please note there is no parking at the site and the surrounding streets are restricted to residents parking so we would encourage you to use public transport, see the link above for options - The community hub building will be finished but the wider site will still be under construction and we may be finishing off some of the permanent access paths to the hub building. We will ensure there is safe access but we would suggest sensible footwear is worn. - Please respect our neighbours when visiting and keep noise to a minimum when on Church Grove and do not enter any private gardens or driveways; please respect their privacy. We hope you can join us on the 21st and look forward to celebrating the project with you! From the RUSS Community Hub Team [email protected]
The Community Hub build has been extended into August - we're aiming to complete works by the end of the month. From next week we'll be installing the cladding, preparing flooring and painting the interior. Its all coming together but we still need volunteer help to get us over the line. If you can help us out and would like to experience life on a construction site please visit our Eventbrite page to sign up for a free 'ticket' as new sessions have just been added; https://russhub.eventbrite.com. To follow progress of the project check out our Instagram or facebook pages: https://www.instagram.com/russlewisham/ https://www.facebook.com/theruss.org
We're entering the final few weeks of the Ladywell Self-Build Community Space build. The walls are up, the roof deck is on and windows and doors have just started to be installed. We've had a fantastic volunteer response to our project with over 40 volunteers learning new skills and helping us construct the building. If you haven't got involved on site yet and would like to please visit our Eventbrite page to sign up for a free 'ticket' as new sessions have just be added; https://russhub.eventbrite.com. To follow progress of the project check out our Instagram or facebook pages: https://www.instagram.com/russlewisham/ https://www.facebook.com/theruss.org
This week was all about foundations. We made timber formwork for concrete, learnt the dos and don'ts of setting out and constructed a nifty system to allow tolerance for bolts being cast into the concrete. We finished the week with some concrete pouring - it's quite a delicate process to get right it turns out. New volunteer sessions have just been released on eventbrite: https://russhub.eventbrite.com/ Follow our build on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/russlewisham/ or facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theruss.org
Good evening self builders! A massive thanks to everyone one who joined us last week for our launch of the RUSS Temporary Community Hub build, and to those who filled out our volunteer questionnaire. We are very excited to announce that the first volunteer build-dates have been released and you can now sign-up to get involved! We’re getting volunteers together to build London’s first training facility for would-be community self-builders. Our timber-framed building will be constructed in Ladywell, Lewisham on part of the land set aside for a new 33 home affordable self-build housing project. Signing up to help for a day will give you the opportunity to get hands-on experience of construction a timber building. To find out more and to sign-up please visit our Eventbrite page; https://www.eventbrite.com/o/russ-hub-15802787559 We'll be adding lots more build opportunities shortly so don't worry if you can't make one of these slots. We look forward to meeting you on site soon! The RUSS Community Hub Team [email protected] Photo: Our start-up meeting on site with our Contractor Habitat for Humanity
Just a quick reminder that we're holding our launch event for the RUSS Temporary Community Hub tomorrow evening. Details below - we'd love to see you there! Time: Wed 15th May 7-8.30pm Location: Good Hope Café in Place Ladywell Event Details: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/russ-community-hub-build-launch-event-tickets-60878784082?fbclid=IwAR34XHk_kZLfk9ekthWDte_pobHnH75QkGIbJsX1r_5BYQopnCLwimfK1NA Agenda: 7.00-7.15pm: Informal - meet hub volunteers, review our drawings and contribute to our brainstorm wall: "What activities would you like to see at the RUSS Community Hub"? 7.15-8.15pm: Presentation by RUSS hub volunteers and Habitat for Humanity 8.15-8.30pm: Q&A session 8.30pm onwards: Drinks at the Fox and Firkin across the road
It’s been a while coming, but we are very excited to announce that the ‘Temporary Community Hub’ project is starting on site! To kick things off we’re holding a launch event on Wed 15th May 7-9pm at the Good Hope Café in Place Ladywell – see here for details; https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/russ-community-hub-build-launch-event-tickets-60878784082?fbclid=IwAR34XHk_kZLfk9ekthWDte_pobHnH75QkGIbJsX1r_5BYQopnCLwimfK1NA This event will be a chance to get up to speed with what’s been happening on the project since our successful crowd-funding campaign back in 2017 and to find out how you can get involved with the build. We’ll explain what we’ll be building, how we’re going to build it and how you can sign-up and join in. We’ll also be sharing some of our experiences to date designing and organising a self-build volunteer project – we’ve had some brilliant times but also a lot of challenges which we’ll talking about. You’ll also hear from volunteers who’ve been involved with the project over the last year. If you can’t make this event, don’t worry, we’ll be advertising volunteer opportunities for the hub project shortly via RUSS’s facebook page and website. Hope to see you at the event or on site soon! The RUSS Community Hub Team
With 2018 drawing to a close, we have spent the last couple of weeks looking back at what we have achieved so far, and looking ahead to 2019. Please follow the link below for some slides that summarise the highlights of the past year. We have a detailed planning workshop lined up before Christmas, so in January we will post another update with the plans for next year. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X1LHS3SVNFhbOorzGShExnJx5gIHK6cN/view?usp=sharing GIFT AID: when we launched this campaign, Spacehive didn't have the functionality to ask for Gift Aid on our pledges, but now finally they do. Next week they will be sending you an email on our behalf to ask you for a brief declaration that you are happy for us to claim Gift Aid on your pledge. We know it's a while back, but we would be eternally grateful if you could complete the declaration for us. Gift Aid allows us to claim 25p for every £1 you donate, without any material difference to you. This would make a huge difference to our project! Thanks a lot for your continued support, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas! The Russ Hub Team
Our planning application was unanimously approved by Lewisham Council Planning Committee B yesterday evening 7th June. This couldn’t be achieved without your help and support, to the tireless efforts of our volunteers, RUSS members and our technical team. Thank you so much! We plan to start self-building the ‘Hub’ this summer. The community space will be built on the Church Grove site in Ladywell as part of RUSS first housing project of 33 affordable and sustainable self-built homes. Well, here is a more amazing news. It’s happening! London’s biggest affordable self-build housing project also secured planning permission last night, again unanimously approved by Planning Committee B. A mammoth effort that has paid off. How exciting! Find out more at https://www.theruss.org/2018/06/08/cgpplanning-permission/
