Member’s Work Party
14th Aug 2023
Great weather, good food, and lively music. Members enjoyed the company of future neighbors, sharing stories, working on the land and spending quality time together.
Ash Tree Dieback
8th May 2023
Heartbreaking to bid farewell to this 100-year-old ash tree lost to ash dieback. While this tree has departed, 1500 native Irish trees were planted on the land to take its place.
Our Podcast Debut
23rd Mar 2023
Heiko, one of our group members has an interesting conversation on the "Sweet Spud on a Farm podcast”. Well worth a listen.😃 shorturl.at/bAPZ8
Belfast Telegraph Article
18th Feb 2023
Thrilled to share that we’ve been showcased by the Belfast Telegraph. Read more here.
Online Info Meeting.
If you want to know more about Portaferry Cohousing, meet some of the members, and learn about our new exciting planning application. Join us for an online information meeting -
Thurs 7-8pm 23rd Feb 2023.
Tree Planting Day
12th Feb 2023
17 people helped us plant another 100 native trees, blackthorn, yew, spindle, apple and nut varieties.
Online Info Meeting + Q&A on the planning application.
Thurs 26th Jan 2023
Twenty people attended our zoom meeting, interested in more information on the planning application, and how to join the group. Also some recent local press coverage.
Belfast Self-Build Exhibition
7-9th Oct 2022
Come and see our stand at the exhibition, and meet some of our group members.
Tree Maintenance
Summer / Autumn 2022
We have carefully tended our new saplings, scythed the grass and applied mulch. We are already reaping the benefits, our first apple!
1500 Trees Planted
5th Mar 2022
Our tree planting has begun! 1500 mixed native trees, oak, birch, alder & willow. The trees are part of Portaferry Cohousing's vision for a healthy, inspiring and sustainable 32 unit housing development, with a common house, shared growing spaces, woodland walks, etc. Join the group, to help bring the vision into reality.
“Project Update” - online zoom meeting
Thurs 10th Feb 2022, 7 to 8pm.
Project update information presentation and information about how to become a member.
“Ask our Architect” online zoom meeting
Thurs 9th Dec 2021, 7 to 8pm.
Our architect, Murray Bell presented our preliminary designs, with questions and answer session on zoom with interested neighbours.
Public Exhibition
Sat 4th Dec 2021, The Narrows, Portaferry
The exhibiton was held from 10am to 3pm at The Narrows. We had 15 visitors viewing the preliminary drawings and information on the design. This is part of our consultation process, so we would love to hear your thoughts, as we prepare for a formal planing application in Spring 2022. Download our Dec 21 leaflet.
“Full planning permission for 17unit mixed detached and semi-detached residential houses alongside a 32unit cohousing development. The cohousing development will consist of a mix of unit sizes from 1 to 4 bedroom, detached, semi-detached and terraced, a common house (consisting of a kitchen, function/dining room, two bedrooms & office, as a focal point of the neighbourhood & communal meals once per week) with extensive shared green spaces, play areas, shared gardens & wildlife areas.”
Visit to Cloughjordan Eco-village
Oct 2021
Portaferry Cohousing group members spent the weekend at Cloughjordan Ecovillage in Co. Tipperary. Highlights included their timber frame, cob and hempcrete eco houses; a wood chip district heating system, organic 10 acre farm, thousands of newly planted trees, orchard and allotments. Lots of inspiration and ideas to bring to Portaferry Cohousing.
On-site and virtual site tour
5th Sept 2021
Interest is growing for Portaferry Cohousing at our site tour. Great combination of sunshine, prams, kids and dogs! Lovely family day out.
Meet & Greet
14 and 21st June 2021 - Open Zoom Meeting
Seven attended this meeting from all over the country. Q&A is available to download here.
7 June 2021 - Portaferry Residents Zoom
Seven interested individuals attended this meeting for Portaferry residents. The Q&A are available to download here.
17 May 2021 - Local Neighbours Zoom
We distributed 25 information leaflets to the nearest homes, inviting them to a special zoom meeting, which was attended by 35 people, including three local councillors. There were some great questions and we have typed these up: you can download the questions and answers here.
Local Newspaper Coverage
June 2021
We’ve chosen our architect
April 2021
After a selection process, we have chosen architect Murray Bell to work with the residents to design Portaferry CoHousing. He has worked on multiple community-based and ecological projects: you can see his work on his website here.
Land purchase complete!
April 2021