Dominic Stevens during his time as Architect in Residence developed a lecture programme that sought to examine the houses we build and the way in which we live in rural Roscommon. As part of this lecture he looked at trends in rural settlement over generations and how these trends over time have contributed to a deterioration in a sense of community. Methods of building and organising communities such as the “Cloghan” and the “Meitheal” were explored and it was from these discussions that the Building Communities Programme emerged.

In association with Mid-South LEADER we examined the feasibility of establishing a project where 4 – 6 people from the current local authority housing list would design and build their own houses together as a group using Walter Segal methods of self-building.

We have now successfully completed the feasibility study and hope to commence with the programme in the near future.