We've helped hundreds of people to improve and build their own homes. Now we need your support to secure a home for Common Knowledge, so we can reach thousands more.

"Within Common Knowledge, lies the potential to empower Irish people to create their own destinies, to build or improve their own homes and shelter. But first, Common Knowledge needs a home of its own. The opportunity to acquire the Boghill centre is an opportunity that cannot be missed. It requires all of us to come together to make this dream come true."

MANCHÁN MAGAN - WRITER AND BROADCASTER

Our Story

Hello! We're Common Knowledge, a non-profit social enterprise founded in Clare in 2021.

We've already taught hundreds of people from all walks of life the practical skills needed to create a home that’s more affordable and sustainable, including how to build, make, mend and grow.

Now we need your support to secure a new permanent home for Common Knowledge.  Please join us in creating a new #homeforhomemaking in Ireland.

What We Do

(and how a new home can help us to do more of it!)

Our mission is to empower people to create affordable, sustainable and happy homes.

We do this by teaching people to build, make, mend and grow. With Ireland facing a deep housing crisis and the world facing an unprecedented climate crisis, we believe it's vital that we develop the type of skills that were once commonplace that can help us through this moment and for whatever else lays ahead.

Here's a taster of the 25 courses we have run in 2022 with almost 400 people:

We can do so much more with a suitable home for Common Knowledge.  A new home will support us to work with more people and communities, and provide a base to build a sustainable business that can fund our mission to make these skills accessible to as many people as possible.

Here are some of the Community Projects we have run over the past year:

The Home We Can Secure With Your Help :

The Boghill Centre

After a year of testing, building and growing our community from a temporary site, we need a permanent space where people from all walks of life can come together to learn, share and grow, helping to build their skills and confidence to create a more sustainable home.

An amazing opportunity has emerged to purchase and take custodianship of The Boghill Centre in the heart of the Burren. W e’re asking for your support in raising vital funds for the deposit to secure this site.

Here's a map our co-founder Erin drew of the current site surrounded by 50 acres of wildlife:

By supporting this crowdfunder, you'll be helping us to secure the property with a deposit that will give us exclusive rights to complete the sale in six months. We're confident that we can then raise the finance to complete the purchase and move in next year in time for our 2023 summer programme. 

 
Set on 50 acres of peatlands in the Burren & Cliffs of Moher Geopark, a few minutes from the Wild Atlantic Way, the Boghill Centre has been connecting people to a more sustainable life for over 30 years. With its current owners retiring, it is ready for new energy to build on what already exists there. And we have lots to give!

Watch this video with our co-founder Harrison chatting with Sonja O'Brien from the Boghill Centre

It's a place that provides everything we will need to grow as a community, and as an impact-driven organisation. We are so excited at the prospect of creating a vibrant new chapter for this special place.

Take a tour of the site with us: 

The facilities of the site provide an ideal space for learning, as well as offering opportunities to enrich and improve the property with the construction and permaculture skills we practice and share with others in our work. 

Check out some of the highlights of the property:

Making this place our home will mean we can connect with even wider community of people. Please support us to create a new #homeforhomemaking  and a space to learn, connect, grow and build with others.

We know that with our wide ranging experience, the support of our community, our alumni and our board, we can take on the operation and development of this site in a sustainable way - including the restoration of the biodiversity of the land. Our intention is to continue to make the space available for use by other groups, whilst upgrading and activating the facilities for our own courses.

On purchase, the site will be owned by Common Knowledge Centre for Sustainable Living CLG. This is the common company form for non-profits, which is governed by a board and has no private ownership. By entrusting this property to this CLG, it will ensure the maximum long term benefit of the property for the community.

This is a very unique site with extensive development already undertaken, waiting to be used to its full potential. We are confident that we can build on this site's legacy whilst laying firm foundations for the future of Common Knowledge.

Be Part Of Our Homemaker's Wall 

If you are currently in the position to give €100 or more to support this dream, we'll make sure your name is enshrined forever on an etched metal panel in a handmade tile as part of the Homemakers Wall designed by artist Mollie Anna King. 

Each tile will be embedded with a personalised text - either a name or a message, which will remain part of the wall permanently and become part of the future of the site.

 There are just 500 tiles available on the wall, we're dreaming of seeing your name on one of them!

Common Knowledge Is for Everyone

We've taught hundreds of people from all stages of the homemaking journey, all with differing abilities, backgrounds and dreams, from our temporary site outside Ennistymon.

Here are a few of our happy course participants this year <3

The common interest in the people we work with is to improve their living situation. This can mean improving the place they’re renting, upgrading their own property, or escaping high rent and mortgage costs by building their own place and even renovating a derelict property.

Take for example Rose Green (below left), who came to our Build School course this year and found the skills, knowledge and community for herself and her partner's relocation and renovation project:

Rose told us:

"Myself and my partner Margaux bought a beautiful 200 year old stone farmhouse 3 years ago. We fell in love with the house but our confidence level to undertake the renovation just wasn’t there…. Until I signed up to Common Knowledge's Build School this year. I learned so many new skills and gained the confidence to put thoughts into action. But I also bonded with a group of incredible like minded beings! Full of new skills and eager to get renovating, I gathered my new Common Knowledge friends this summer for our very first build weekend. The feeling of community, the positive energy and the drive this gave us and our project makes what we have started even more special. Thank you Common Knowledge!"

55% of our participants identify as women and 15% as LGBTQ+. These groups tell us that they have not traditionally had access to these skills. We believe these skills are for everyone - help us to change this!

“I learnt more in one week than I might in months through traditional education. I now feel confident that my dream of self building is attainable!” 

COURSE PARTICIPANT, 2022

In 2022 we piloted an Access Programme, for people who could not otherwise afford to attend our Build School courses. We plan to expand this next year and also provide employment opportunities for people who may hold the skills we celebrate but are experiencing marginalisation and disadvantages.

“I was feeling distraught at my ability to buy a home and knew I would likely have to build which was very daunting, especially as a single woman. This course took the fear away.”

COURSE PARTICIPANT, 2022

A new home will allow us to make the skills, knowledge and community that people need right now accessible to a much wider group. Our vision is for a place where people from all backgrounds can learn and work with each other to improve each other’s lives, whilst enriching and supporting the land and site to enable others in the future.

What Others Are Saying About Us

"Common Knowledge offers supports to gain increasingly relevant sustainability skills, as well as a unique opportunity to build agency and confidence in tackling some of the most critical issues of our time. Most importantly, it provides energy and hope for our shared future. "

ALI SHERIDAN - SUSTAINABILITY AND CLIMATE ADVISOR

"It’s not just about learning how to use tools or make shelter, grow or make or do, although it is all those things, and much much more. At its very core, I feel Common Knowledge is about empowerment. It’s a beautiful wake up call to what we are all capable of. It opens your eyes and changes your view."

KATIE SANDERSON - CHEF + BUILD SCHOOL ATTENDEE

About The Founding Team

Erin McClure

Erin is our Creative Director - a visual communicator, specializing in sustainable design solutions for socially responsible brands and initiatives. With a background in textile design, Erin also runs Caravanseri, a slow living design studio focused on working with industry waste streams and natural, sustainable materials. She is particularly motivated by an interest in plant dyes, earth pigments and natural paints and plasters. She teaches spatial design and natural wool workshops at Common Knowledge.

Fionn Kidney

For Fionn, Common Knowledge is a place to support each other in navigating the housing and climate crises, whilst learning together, in an inclusive, healthy and fulfilling environment. Having worked across the non-profit, public and corporate sectors, Fionn brings a broad range of momentum-building skills to Common Knowledge, including strategic development, project management and marketing. Fionn is the Chairperson of Inishturk Island, sits on the board of Anu Productions, and has served on the boards of both GAZE LGBT+ Film Festival and Darklight Film Festival .

Harrison Gardner 

Harrison is an Australian builder and sustainability designer living in Clare. He has 15 years experience designing and managing the construction of conventional, natural and sustainable buildings worldwide. His current focus is on constructing community spaces whilst teaching the core construction skills, principles and techniques needed to build more efficient, sustainable structures. He is the author of ‘Build Your Own’ currently filming a TV series by the same name, due to broadcast in November 2022.

Spider Hickman

Nicknamed Spider from birth, Claire Hickman has a background in architecture, contemporary art and off-grid construction. She is particularly interested in the research and development of sustainable and reused materials. She is part of the core teaching team at Common Knowledge as well as managing the instructor team as a programme director.

Common Knowledge Centre for Sustainable Living CLG is a non-profit social enterprise 

Registered Company No. 705098