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The Calthorpe Living Lab

Funded on Spacehive 7 December 2018

Impact data and claims within this report are provided by the project creator and have not been independently verified by Spacehive.

The Calthorpe Living Lab

The Calthorpe Living Lab

Calthorpe Project Community Garden By Calthorpe Project Community Garden

Inspiring people to grow environmentally friendly ideas that lead to new sustainable enterprises; we will create a solar-powered community shop to support the creativity of local entrepreneurs.

Camden Delivery stage

43
backers
£13,720
raised
funded icon
This project was funded on 07 Dec 2018!

Our project will help people become more self-sufficient by offering exciting workshops that teach practical skills. We will also establish a solar powered community shop to sell their products & those made by other local entrepreneurs & artisans. Environmentally friendly workshops will include up-cycling, food preserving, raw vegan & vegetarian cooking, urban food growing & plant propagation courses designed to help people reduce waste, reuse, recycle & up-cycle, and get creative! Participants will benefit from enterprise support sessions to grow their business ideas & network with like-minded individuals. The Calthorpe Living Lab builds on our innovative, closed-loop demonstration in Central London where we: Grow a wide range of foods; Harvest produce to create nutritious meals in our community café; Digest food waste to create renewable biogas & liquid fertilizer; Use the fertiliser to enhance plant growth; & use biogas for cooking and heating indoor growing space in winter.

What we'll deliver:

  • A refurbished community kitchen
  • A solar powered community shop
  • Up-cycling, creative arts and crafts courses
  • Raw, vegan, vegetarian cooking courses
  • Preserving, fermenting and making sauces courses
  • Herbal remedy-making courses making tinctures, infusions, poultices courses
  • Grow your own sustainable enterprise courses

Why it's a great idea:

The courses will provide qualifications and increase employability as well as teaching people new skills, promoting sustainable living, reducing isolation and bringing like-minded people together. Our closed-loop example will become a seed bed for new sustainable enterprises to support the local economy and create a blueprint for others to follow. Calthorpe is perfectly placed to engage a diverse audience with over 30,000 visitors a year, including young and older people, those with mental/physical challenges, migrants, students and a wide range of ethnic minorities We live in a time when urgent environmental pressures affect everyone, independent of age, income or ethnicity. People are increasingly aware of the need to eat healthily, look after the environment and reduce waste, the proposed workshops and solar powered shop will offer fun, inspiring ideas to achieve those goals in ways that save money, encourage creativity and empower the community.

Steps to get it done:

  • Create a renewably powered shop for products made by course participants and local artisans
  • Recruit course participants through marketing and publicity
  • Deliver a range of courses
  • Renovate the kitchen

The Calthorpe Project's unique organic circular demonstration offers the perfect opportunity to engage and inspire people from all backgrounds around creative sustainability. Seeing the closed-loop cycle in action makes it easier for people to grasp and understand ecosystems, our dependence on natural resources and how we can manage them more sustainably. The courses will translate these ideas into practical everyday solutions and the shop will provide a channel through which entrepreneurs can reach their audience. Our courses and community cafe connect people, make people feel less isolated and feel more part of their community..

Location Camden

About the space

258-274 Grays Inn road Wc1x 8lh

Council

London Borough of Camden

How will the money be spent?Total £13,644

cooker - £5,555 (41%)
13 cooking/preserving sessions - £3,276 (24%)
12 herbal remedy sessions - £2,844 (21%)
freezer - £1,500 (11%)
Other - £469 (3%)

Costs Breakdown

This shows how money raised for the project will be spent. These costs have been confirmed by the project's Delivery Manager and verified.

41%
cooker
£5,555
24%
13 cooking/preserving sessions
£3,276
21%
12 herbal remedy sessions
£2,844
11%
freezer
£1,500
3%
Other Read More
£469
  • Spacehive fees
    £359
  • VAT
    £72
  • Transaction Fees
    £39

Overfunding

This project is enabled for overfunding. If the project hits its funding goal before the end of the campaign period, any extra funds raised will be spent (in order of priority) on:

  • We will run more courses.

Total £13,644

Our Volunteer List

We're currently looking for people to offer skills and time to develop our project! Check out the list of what we need below and then use the 'Volunteer' button to the right to get involved.

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