Design Report 04

Acres Wood

Graham Wood

Draft V01 April 2016

Design Report 04 : Acres Wood

Table of Contents
2

Brief Introduction:..................................................................................................4
2.1

Survey Information................................................................................................4
3.1

Clients & Stakeholders....................................................................................4

3.2

Observation & Interviews................................................................................4

3.2.1

Clients:......................................................................................................4

3.2.2

Stakeholder: Mrs V Wood.........................................................................4

3.2.3

Stakeholder: Extended family...................................................................5

3.3
4

Background.....................................................................................................4

Photo Documentation......................................................................................5

Methods Used.......................................................................................................6
4.1

Land Based Design Considerations................................................................6

4.1.1
4.2

Reflections on Process.............................................................................6

Evaluation of Method.......................................................................................6

Base Map..............................................................................................................7

Analysis.................................................................................................................8

6.1

Zones...............................................................................................................8

6.2

FSE..................................................................................................................8

6.3

PMI..................................................................................................................8

Decisions...............................................................................................................9
7.1

Location...........................................................................................................9

7.2

Materials..........................................................................................................9

7.3

Costs...............................................................................................................9

7.4

Implement........................................................................................................9

7.5

Maintain...........................................................................................................9

Evaluation............................................................................................................10
8.1

Permaculture Principles (Holmgren).............................................................10

8.1.1

Obtain a yield..........................................................................................10

8.1.2

Catch and store energy..........................................................................10

8.1.3

Use and value renewable resources......................................................10

8.1.4

Design from patterns to details...............................................................10

8.1.5

Integrate rather than segregate..............................................................10

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Design Report 04 : Acres Wood

8.1.6

Use small and slow solutions.................................................................10

8.1.7

Observe and interact..............................................................................10

8.1.8

Use and value diversity..........................................................................10

8.1.9

Produce no waste...................................................................................11

8.1.10
8.2
9

Use edge and value the marginal........................................................11

Overall Effectiveness of Design.....................................................................11

How Ethics Influenced Decisions........................................................................12

9.1

People Care...................................................................................................12

9.2

Fair Shares....................................................................................................12

9.3

Earth Care.....................................................................................................12

10

SWOC...............................................................................................................13

10.1

Strengths....................................................................................................13

10.2

Weaknesses...............................................................................................13

10.3

Opportunities..............................................................................................13

10.4

Constraints.................................................................................................13

11

Tweak................................................................................................................13

12

Resources.........................................................................................................14

12.1

Training Course..........................................................................................14

12.2

Books.........................................................................................................14

12.3

Websites.....................................................................................................14

12.4

Tools...........................................................................................................14

13

Design Reflection..............................................................................................15

13.1

Design Process used.................................................................................15

13.2

Assessment Criteria aims..........................................................................15

13.3

Permaculture Research Institute Category................................................15

14

Personal Reflections.........................................................................................15

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Design Report 04 : Acres Wood

1 Brief Introduction:
1.1 Background
The biggest grouping of ideas for my Diploma Designs are all to do with my home
base and its attached plot of land known as Acres Wood. It originally started off as
just one massive design, but it was just too complex to be just one design. So I
thought to help put all the various ideas into context I'd do a Design for an
overarching project for "Acres Wood".

2 Survey Information
2.1 Clients & Stakeholders
The client groups for this design were:

Client: Mr G Wood
Stakeholders: Mrs V Wood
Stakeholders: My extended family

2.2 Observation & Interviews

2.2.1 Clients:
Being the main client myself I did not do a normal structured interview, but
decided to brainstorm the many thoughts and ideas Id had over the years
regarding Acres Wood.
We have lived here since 1979 and mostly used our field and woods as an
extended playground for our 3 sons and all their friends from the village.
Im now in my 60s and in 2013 stopped my previous professional work as a
business consultant, with a view to enjoying life more.
Ive always had an interest in self-sufficiency and nature.
Both my father and grandfather were good at growing fruit and veg for the
family, and I was encouraged to develop my interest in it from an early age.
Id like to be able to use the land to provide food and fuel for my wife and
myself, with flexibility to up production if needed for additional family
members.
Im interested to use for my own experimentation on natural building etc and
as a teaching resource for permaculture related subjects.
Long term Id want to have it setup as a family use land resource for if or
when the Peak Oil / Climate Change disruption occurs.
2.2.2 Stakeholder: Mrs V Wood
Being attached to the home a key requirement for her was for it to be
attractive to look at, and no visible mess for neighbours to see.

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Likes the prospect of fresh tasty produce.

She is not particularly interested in being involved in day to day tasks in the
growing.

2.2.3 Stakeholder: Extended family

Our eldest and youngest sons have an interest in doing outdoor things and
growing food.
Our eldest son could possibly be interested in taking over the property in the
future when I can no longer physically manage it all.
All of them are very busy with their own houses and would not be able to
commit to much involvement in the short to medium term.

2.3 Photo Documentation

All the areas of the property had been photographed over several years, but for more
structured observations I took further photos to record the detail of layout, notable
features, and any problems found so that these could be analysed and matched to
the evolving design requirements.

Arial view of Acres Wood and our house.

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Design Report 04 : Acres Wood

3 Methods Used
3.1 Land Based Design Considerations
For this design I had firstly attempted to use OBREDIMET (Observe / Boundaries /
Resources / Evaluate / Design / Implement / Maintain / Evaluate / Tweak) as Id done
on my PDC. I found this to be a useful guide, but possibly too detail focused for a
concept overarching project design. I then considered the standard SADIMET (Survey / Analysis / Decisions / Implement / Maintain / Evaluate) or as a framework,
3.1.1 Reflections on Process
As this design was to be used as an overarching project for several related designs I
thought it was very important to reflect on the key design elements and functions at
regular intervals.

3.2 Evaluation of Method

On evaluating its effectiveness I think ...

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Design Report 04 : Acres Wood

4 Base Map
Dated Sept 2014 to Jan 2015 by GW Scale Roughly drawn to scale

Outline base map of Acres Wood.

Due to the of lack of clear line of sight and the undulating slopes on a vee shaped
profile the survey proved to be quite difficult. The ground measurements did not
match up with sufficient accuracy with those given on the OS maps.

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Design Report 04 : Acres Wood

OS map of Acres Wood.
This photo is an example of the difficulties in measuring and taking bearings where
the lay of the land and tall ground cover obscures most of the direct views and limits
physical access.

View East back to house from two thirds the way up the field by the stream.

View West down to the far end of the field.

To improve the accuracy of the mapping and resolve the issues created by the
slopes I used a combination of OS map measurements checked by selected
available ground measurements and bearing angles using both long tape measure
and some GPS results from an App on my smartphone.

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Design Report 04 : Acres Wood

5 Analysis
5.1 Zones
It soon became clear that the scope of work needed to change and expanded to
include other

5.2 FSE
FUNCTIONS

SYSTEMS

ELEMENTS

The Functions, Systems & Elements Analysis demonstrates that many of the
physical elements are key to enabling quality of life functionality, supporting multiple
interrelated systems and functions identified during the design iterations.

5.3 PMI
PMI table taken from Analysis : Design - Analysis.docx

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6 Decisions
Key decisions made on design elements.

6.1 Location
Stay

6.2 Materials
We wanted to utilise mostly resources from onsite to reduce costs, but some items
.

6.3 Costs
It was agreed that cost should not be seen as the main limitation or constraint as the
key element was of future people care.
The initial estimates of . was seen as
The final spend was only in the order of .
Note: Full detail cost breakdowns were shared and agreed with my family, but were
deemed as private for this public version of design write-up.

6.4 Implement
As Id decided to implement this overarching project design as a series of other detail
designs.

6.5 Maintain
In order to maintain the integrity of this overarching design review points and
feedback were incorporated as part of the other detail designs and ongoing
implementations.

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Design Report 04 : Acres Wood

7 Evaluation
Designing this overarching project for myself has allowed me the luxury of designing
over a much longer time frame, and without the need for instant results for
demanding clients. It favoured the use of slow solutions (e.g. forest garden), and
enabled me to observe and interact with the changes, experimenting and learn from
them, and then use that knowledge to refine the related detail designs. This is a
huge benefit, and one that I am taking full advantage of.
This being a land based design project it felt more natural using the key
Permaculture Principles (Holmgren) for evaluation throughout the design process.

7.1 Permaculture Principles (Holmgren)

7.1.1 Obtain a yield
The ...
7.1.2 Catch and store energy
Personal resilience ..
7.1.3 Use and value renewable resources
Reuse of onsite materials.
Planting of edible perennials.
Tree planting and coppicing for use as firewood.
7.1.4 Design from patterns to details
My analysis started by looking at the property set in the wider environment applying
the principles design from pattern to detail.
The method was to start at a concept level and design an overarching project to give
context to a series of other detail designs.
Observations from developing the detail level designs were fed back in an ongoing
cycle to revise the overarching project and as input to other associated designs.
7.1.5 Integrate rather than segregate
Initially it was thought that this Acres Wood design would be just one large design, or
be a series of smaller independent designs, but instead all the separate design ideas
were combined at a concept level in this overarching project concept level design.
Elements of the sub-designs were able to link to each other, and created
opportunities for incremental benefits to be achieved.
7.1.6 Use small and slow solutions
The design method enabled planned incremental progression over several years.

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Design Report 04 : Acres Wood

By splitting the overall concept design into the smaller detail designs it was possible
to select implementations to create early optimal benefits.
7.1.7 Observe and interact
Regular observations had been recorded in photos over many years. This was
complemented by aprox 2 years of more focused observations noting seasonal
change for the concept level, and options for further more detailed observations to
be done later in the detail designs.
7.1.8 Use and value diversity
By integrating the wild elements of the land into...
7.1.9 Produce no waste
In the future, as a yield from this design
7.1.10 Use edge and value the marginal
Friends and family experiencing the design, even if only on the margins could have
an interest stimulated and gain understanding of permaculture design concepts and
benefits.
The design will hopefully be able to further others in their knowledge of practical
application of permaculture design methods, thinking and ethics.

7.2 Overall Effectiveness of Design

The key outcomes were met in enabling the myself as client to have an overarching
plan designed that fed into a set of . .
There was a possible missed opportunity of introducing more of the permaculture
concepts to the ..

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Design Report 04 : Acres Wood

8 How Ethics Influenced Decisions

8.1 People Care
The concept design considers both the physical and mental wellbeing of myself as
client and the ongoing needs of my family.
All design elements were also reviewed against the wishes and views of my wife and
neighbours as to what the aesthetic impacts could be both long term and during the
implementation growing in periods.

8.2 Fair Shares

The design could enable the creation of a viable long term living space that would be
able to provide food and fuel for at least two people, with the scalability and flexibility
to up production if needed for additional family members and friends.
Tendering locally and within the permaculture network for materials and follow on
maintenance jobs a way to help with our local employment.

8.3 Earth Care

The design aims to promote interest in the local wildlife for my family, and any other
visitors to the house.
Part of the concept design is to introduce elements into the detail designs that would
improve the overall soil condition and promote carbon sequestration.
The design aims to include upcycling and reuse of materials to reduce waste.
All design elements were reviewed against the longer term environmental impacts to
ensure any short term benefits did not result in legacy type problems.

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Design Report 04 : Acres Wood

9 SWOC
Used SWOC (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Constraints ) analysis
as an exercise to evaluate the design to compliment the PMI .

9.1 Strengths
Believe we achieved everything identified in our client interview

9.2 Weaknesses

9.3 Opportunities
Reuse of some existing materials.
Possible option for

9.4 Constraints
My own changing health status.
Available finances for setup and ongoing maintenance.
My ability to work outside in the cold and wet conditions.

10Tweak
My preference for the iterative nature of the design incorporated tweaks at almost
every stage.
For an example see the evolving nature of the bathroom criteria.
There were a range of other small tweak changes made as needs were identified
these included .
All tweaks individually were mostly quite small things, but they brought many
compound benefits for the overall project and my own learning.

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Design Report 04 : Acres Wood

11 Resources
Resources used that have influenced this design.

11.1 Training Course

PDC : Rod Everett and his follow on notes

Forest Gardens : Tomas Remiarz
Extended Season Growing : RHS
Fruit Tree Pruning and Grafting : RHS
Aquaponics Design : Urbanag CiC
Award in Education and Training : Cheshire Community Development Trust

11.2 Books

Permaculture Design, A Step by Step Guide : by Aranya

Edible Forrest Gardens Vol 1 & 2 by D Jacke
Forest Gardening by Robert Hart
How to Make a Forest Garden by Patrick Whitefield
Aquaculture by T Pillay
Hydroponics by Nicholls
Bioshelter Market Garden by D Frey
The Market Gardener by JM Fortier
Living On an Acre by U.S. Dept of Agriculture
Self-Sufficiency by John Seymour
The Trifty Forager by Alys Fowler
Eco-Refurbishment by PF Smith
Heating With Wood by A Reynolds
Solar Electricity Handbook by M Boxwell
The Passive Solar House by J Kachhadorian
Homeowners Energy Handbook by P Scheckel
The Transition Handbook by Rob Hopkins

11.3 Websites

Agroforestry Research Trust https://www.agroforestry.co.uk/

Edible Forest Gardens http://www.edibleforestgardens.com/

11.4 Tools

Laptop
DSLR camera
Smartphone GPS
Note books, flipcarts, and sketch pads
Ruler, protractor, pens, crayons, and felt-tips
Selection of hand tools.
Surveyors Measure Tape

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12Design Reflection
12.1 Design Process used
The SADIMET method was found to be lacking on customer focus for defining of the
expected Outcomes and this gap was filled by using the Action Planning method to
force focus on the Outcome during design where rapidly changing needs occurred.

12.2 Assessment Criteria aims

Demonstrating design skills
Applying permaculture in your own life Learning from and developing your
permaculture practice

12.3 Permaculture Research Institute Category

Architecture, building and retrofitting:
The redesign and retrofitting of an existing building.

13Personal Reflections
Up to this point in my early permaculture Diploma journey I had only ever used the
permaculture methods for land based designs as on the PDC.
At the beginning I really struggled to see how to apply
I find the taking photographs is central in my permaculture observations design work
and I use them to help and guide each step of all my Permaculture Designs. By
including some carefully chosen ones here in this design not only assisted me as a
Designer but will hopefully help my work to be applied by others tackling similar
situations, by giving a very practical and visual feel to the write up.
I liked doing this design as it gave me personal satisfaction especially when
I think a key learning point for me from a permaculture design process point of view
was again not to get stuck on only using the traditional taught at PDCs methods, as
there are many other very useful and equally valid ones available that can be readily
borrowed to compliment them.
==#==

Graham Wood

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