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The Festival of Sustainable Homes Review - May 2024

NSBRC | The Festival of Sustainable Homes

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our first ever Festival of Sustainable Homes. We hope you enjoyed this new event as much as we enjoyed hosting it!

This year we gave an exciting new look and feel to the Spring/Summer edition of our National Self Build & Renovation Show, shining a spotlight on Sustainability as a topic we’re passionate about, and an ever-increasing consideration for our visitors. The two-day festival combined the spirit of a vibrant, family-friendly event, highlighting how we can all live more sustainably in our homes and communities - with all the invaluable self build and renovation resources which are always at the heart of our shows.

Across the two days we welcomed hundreds of environmentally conscious visitors, including lots of new faces, who it was fantastic to see joining our community, to help shape the sustainability and efficiency of their own projects.

We actively avoided ‘greenwash’, to offer genuine inspiration for anyone interested in creating well-designed, healthy homes. Our 200+ exhibitors offered free advice on improving the energy efficiency and comfort levels of properties, for both new builds and existing homes; through exhibits, seminars, live demonstrations and 1:2:1 conversations with experts.

Talks in our Sustainability Theatre explored the latest eco technologies, heating and cost-saving options, whilst our Build It Theatre played host to presentations on self build fundamentals: from funding and VAT, to plots and planning, and our ‘Battle of the Building Systems’. We also ran our ever-popular guided tours of our educational zones, the ‘New Build Journey’ and ‘Renovation House’ – with newly refreshed renewable heat and energy solutions showcased courtesy of our Festival sponsor Good Energy.

For this event, we introduced the all-new Nature Zone, giving a platform to charities and non-profit organisations who aim to improve our natural environment through targeted campaigns, free advice and educational outreach. Many kids (and big kids) also took part in our Nature Trail, collecting stamps from participating exhibitors around the Centre, and learning about how they can help shape their projects’ impact on the natural world. It was also great to see all the creative ‘Dream Sustainable Home’ drawings being added to Sparky’s Gallery – proudly hosted by our ‘Swindog’ sculpture Sparky, who we commissioned and purchased in support of children’s hospice Julia’s House last year. Our delicious sustainable food options were a big hit too, keeping our visitors and partners well fed throughout the festival!

If you missed out on this event, don’t worry, as there is plenty going on at the NSBRC over the summer months:

VIEW OUR FULL CALENDAR OF EVENTS

…and remember, we're open six days a week! Why not book your FREE visit to the NSBRC today?

Read on below to find out what our visitors had to say about The Festival of Sustainable Homes:

What a fantastic venue and sustainable energy/building ideas. As I have a project in mind, it was a perfect place to collect ideas, inspiration and enthusiasm.

MARK, FESTIVAL OF SUSTAINABLE HOMES VISITOR 2024 - ★★★★★

Never having even heard of NSB&RC and never even imagining people might actually get together in one place to show off what you can do to be sustainable. We were absolutely blown away by the layout, the atmosphere of ‘can do’ and the helpfulness and knowledge of all the stand representatives. That was a really worthwhile day trip to Swindon, the electric car made it there and back and still had 100 miles in the tank and when we’ve designed the house we’ll be back for the finishing touches. Thank you it was inspirational!

ALEC, FESTIVAL OF SUSTAINABLE HOMES VISITOR 2024 - ★★★★★

Just spent a day at the nsbrc. Fantastic facility if you are learning about buildings. Easily found off m4. Easy parking. They have some mock ups, a full-size house, full size drainage, an opportunity to peep under foundations a house through the ages, & scaffolding up to the roof which you can climb without ppe! My only annoyance is it wasn't here when I was training. Brilliant facility & resource for self builders and up and coming professionals.

LESLEY, FESTIVAL OF SUSTAINABLE HOMES VISITOR 2024 - ★★★★★

This is my third visit to NSBRC. It is a great place to get up to date information on the complete spectrum of building materials and processes without the pressure of being sold to. The Sustainability event, with many useful presentations was just an extra bonus. I hope this becomes an annual event.

JAMES, FESTIVAL OF SUSTAINABLE HOMES VISITOR 2024 - ★★★★★

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