Castle Climbing Centre – Cob Oven
WHO
Castle Climbing Centre
THE BRIEF
The Castle Climbing Centre has extensive grounds of which much has been converted into food growing areas. The Castle has a great eco philosophy, a strong recycling policy and a desire to positively engage with community.
Garden staff wanted to improve the perception and contribution of the garden by the office staff, climbers and increase visitor numbers.
To achieve this a commercial size oven to be built in an outdoor kitchen / teaching activity area.
To keep costs down, they built their own plinth structure. When the oven was complete, they built the own round pole reciprocal living roof kitchen / activity area.
THE OUTPUT
A commercial cob oven for use on open days, generating revenue from the sale food on open days and feed the volunteers and attendees to courses in the garden.
THE OUTCOMES
• We used recycled materials to fit in with their eco policy, clearing the garden in the process
• We engaged climbing trainers and office staff to build the oven. This was important as some staff never used the garden
• The team felt confident to use its cob skills to build a cob bottle wall and have other cob plans to follow.
• The space is regularly used throughout the year to fundraise on open days, offer teaching programmes
• Cob in the Community was invited back to run a course on how to build a cob oven in a day, permaculture and natural building.
The Garden has supported the Castle Climbing Centre achieve numerous awards including the Sustainable City awards for Sustainable Building, Sustainable Procurement as well as the Green Thinking Award.
Castle Climbing Centre
THE BRIEF
The Castle Climbing Centre has extensive grounds of which much has been converted into food growing areas. The Castle has a great eco philosophy, a strong recycling policy and a desire to positively engage with community.
Garden staff wanted to improve the perception and contribution of the garden by the office staff, climbers and increase visitor numbers.
To achieve this a commercial size oven to be built in an outdoor kitchen / teaching activity area.
To keep costs down, they built their own plinth structure. When the oven was complete, they built the own round pole reciprocal living roof kitchen / activity area.
THE OUTPUT
A commercial cob oven for use on open days, generating revenue from the sale food on open days and feed the volunteers and attendees to courses in the garden.
THE OUTCOMES
• We used recycled materials to fit in with their eco policy, clearing the garden in the process
• We engaged climbing trainers and office staff to build the oven. This was important as some staff never used the garden
• The team felt confident to use its cob skills to build a cob bottle wall and have other cob plans to follow.
• The space is regularly used throughout the year to fundraise on open days, offer teaching programmes
• Cob in the Community was invited back to run a course on how to build a cob oven in a day, permaculture and natural building.
The Garden has supported the Castle Climbing Centre achieve numerous awards including the Sustainable City awards for Sustainable Building, Sustainable Procurement as well as the Green Thinking Award.
Oasis Oven
WHO
Oasis Nature Garden
THE BRIEF
• To build a cob oven with members of the community for use in their outdoor kitchen.
• To feed the gardening volunteers in the community growing space.
• To get the indoor staff more engaged in the growing space project.
THE OUTCOME
• Over 16 participants came over two days; 70 % of respondents came because they build their own cob oven in their community garden or school. 15% wanted first hand experience making and working with cob because they wanted to test cob for self build.
• The oven build was constrained by the size of the plinth – and this resulted in our smallest oven build. The client was happy because the oven would mostly be cooked in by the children. This required us to balance the thickness of the walls with the size of the internal cooking space.
• Participants left with practice skills on how to source and test clay, how to make and build with cob how to use natural and recycled materials for insulants and how to use the oven to burn minimum wood.
TECHNICAL
• External diameter was 1400x1000.
TESTIMONIAL
"Cob in the Community and Linda were an absolute pleasure to work with. A real "can do" attitude, lots of fun and a wonderful cob oven, thank you" – Oasis Nature Reserve Education Leader.
Oasis Nature Garden
THE BRIEF
• To build a cob oven with members of the community for use in their outdoor kitchen.
• To feed the gardening volunteers in the community growing space.
• To get the indoor staff more engaged in the growing space project.
THE OUTCOME
• Over 16 participants came over two days; 70 % of respondents came because they build their own cob oven in their community garden or school. 15% wanted first hand experience making and working with cob because they wanted to test cob for self build.
• The oven build was constrained by the size of the plinth – and this resulted in our smallest oven build. The client was happy because the oven would mostly be cooked in by the children. This required us to balance the thickness of the walls with the size of the internal cooking space.
• Participants left with practice skills on how to source and test clay, how to make and build with cob how to use natural and recycled materials for insulants and how to use the oven to burn minimum wood.
TECHNICAL
• External diameter was 1400x1000.
TESTIMONIAL
"Cob in the Community and Linda were an absolute pleasure to work with. A real "can do" attitude, lots of fun and a wonderful cob oven, thank you" – Oasis Nature Reserve Education Leader.
Pooles Park – Earth Kitchen & Oven
WHO
Pooles Park primary school – nationally renowned for their environmental work
THE BRIEF
Cob oven with lockable door
THE OUTCOME
Cob became a very popular activity with the after-school club. The children engagement with the project gave them a profound sense of ownership and achievement. “This is the best thing the school has ever done”, said one child. The children gained new levels of learning and self-esteem though practical skills including building foundations, bricklaying, rammed earth tires, sculpting and making cob.
They engaged in team building and leadership activities as children were encouraged to teach each cob building. We worked with the school and teaching staff to:
• Engage pupils across the school, relating our teaching where possible to curriculum
• To enhance understanding of working with waste as a resource
• To learn about use and recycling of car tires
• To make their own building materials and learn skills to build with them
• To have a new sense of ownership of their outdoor space
We engaged with local Finsbury Park community, including the Transition Town network. The school has received numerous awards including the Growing Schools Award, The WWF Green Ambassadors Awards and Lottery Funding.
Cob in the Community developed several policies specific to working with schools and children such as health and safety, model release forms and fact sheets on how to use the oven safely. We were invited back by the Eco Coordinator to build structures in another school.
TECHNICAL
• We used 2 tonnes of clay sourced from a local landscape project in N5. We used circa 3 tonnes of sand, 12 recycled tires, recycled wood, 25 engineering bricks for the oven arch and hearth.
Pooles Park primary school – nationally renowned for their environmental work
THE BRIEF
Cob oven with lockable door
THE OUTCOME
Cob became a very popular activity with the after-school club. The children engagement with the project gave them a profound sense of ownership and achievement. “This is the best thing the school has ever done”, said one child. The children gained new levels of learning and self-esteem though practical skills including building foundations, bricklaying, rammed earth tires, sculpting and making cob.
They engaged in team building and leadership activities as children were encouraged to teach each cob building. We worked with the school and teaching staff to:
• Engage pupils across the school, relating our teaching where possible to curriculum
• To enhance understanding of working with waste as a resource
• To learn about use and recycling of car tires
• To make their own building materials and learn skills to build with them
• To have a new sense of ownership of their outdoor space
We engaged with local Finsbury Park community, including the Transition Town network. The school has received numerous awards including the Growing Schools Award, The WWF Green Ambassadors Awards and Lottery Funding.
Cob in the Community developed several policies specific to working with schools and children such as health and safety, model release forms and fact sheets on how to use the oven safely. We were invited back by the Eco Coordinator to build structures in another school.
TECHNICAL
• We used 2 tonnes of clay sourced from a local landscape project in N5. We used circa 3 tonnes of sand, 12 recycled tires, recycled wood, 25 engineering bricks for the oven arch and hearth.
