Location: Rochdale, Greater Manchester
Timeframe: Built in 2011
Our Involvement: Design and Training
Construction Method: Loadbearing
This community build took place as part of the Growth Project on the Kellett Street allotments in Rochdale, Greater Manchester in 2011. Used as a community space, the project helps support good mental and physical wellbeing through gardening work.
The mock Elizabethan loadbearing shelter was designed by Straw Works and built by the staff and project members, with training courses on the car tyre foundations, straw walls and lime plaster run by Straw Works.
Surrounded by organic veg plots, a wildlife pond, a woodland garden and wildflower meadow, the straw bale shelter provides a relaxing space for group members to have a brew and take a break whilst working in the gardens. The allotment has been deemed ‘Outstanding’ for the past six years by the Royal Horticultural Society’s ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ Award for North West in Bloom. It is also part of the National Garden Scheme. For details on how to visit the garden, see here.
