Organised by:
Organised by: SMILE @ The Centre for Sustainable Design
FREE workshop
When Trudy Thompson started building eco houses in 2005 she didnt know how to build a house, let alone an eco house. Her journey of discovery involved a lot of blood, sweat and tears before she found herself leading the field of sustainable construction in Surrey. Her talk will highlight the major issues she had to deal with on site and the solutions she found. Which led to her moving her business forward into training and product sales when she opens the first Bricks and Bread Sustainable Living Centre in June this year.
After a career in motorsport and running her own performance car dealership, Trudy discovered the value of a positive attitude and managed to achieve a great deal of personal success in the car industry because she was able to overcome the negative aspects of being a woman in a mans world. However in 2001 a serious injury changed her life and it forced Trudy to evaluate what was really important to her. Although she is a self-confessed petrol head, Trudy discovered that her love of the countryside and architecture was more important to her as she comes from a family of practical people in farming, building and horticulture.
Questioning the consequences of her own consumerism and indulgent use of fossil fuels, she decided to devote her time to find a more rewarding and valuable way of living her life. Trudy’s quest led her to find a deeper understanding of living sustainably and has spent a considerable amount of time learning about eco-building, farming and horticulture, she felt compelled to use her entrepreneurial and networking skills to run a business teaching people about how to live, farm and build sustainably. In 2005 she set up a consultancy business to advise people on sustainable construction and went on to project manage and build groundbreaking eco houses in Surrey for private clients doing both new build and renovation work.
In 2009 Trudy is using the hands-on knowledge she has gained from building eco homes and running a low carbon business, to create the Bricks and Bread Sustainable Living Centre in Aldershot, Hampshire (UK), where products, training courses and an exhibition area will be on offer to show people how to build and live more sustainably. The centre will serve as a hub for independent information on the products available, which will assist Trudy and her colleagues to offer consultancy services to self builders, businesses and local authorities about sustainable building materials.