4 weekends between November 11th 2022 and March 5th 2023
at the Brixton Remakery in South London
plus live and pre-recorded online sessions
The permaculture designer asks the question, 'what makes natural ecosystems, such as forests, not only survive, but thrive?' It then continues by asking, 'what can we learn from these thriving models when designing our human settlements, food systems, livelihoods and cultures?'
Permaculture does not claim that there is a definite, one-size-fit-all answer to these questions. Instead, the designer is able to identify a set of ecological and design principles by asking the first question and use them as guides when figuring out the second. This conscious and creative design process enables us to create intelligent, energy and resource efficient, abundant and resilient human ecosystems.
The Permaculture Design Course is a 72-hour often life-changing experience, accredited and certified by the UK Permaculture Association.
“I feel like I know a secret and want to share it with the world”
Dates & Learning Journey
Each of the 4 weekends starts on a Friday afternoon at 1.30 pm. The Friday session ends at 5 pm. On Saturday we’ll be together from 10 am to 5 pm and on Sunday from 10 am to 4.30 pm.
We’ll have live online sessions on November 29th, January 10th, February 21st and March 14th from 6.30 to 8 pm. There will be an approximate of 1 - 1.5 hours of pre-recorded video sessions between each of the London weekends.
To receive the certificate, there is a requirement of making at least 80% of the sessions. Participants missing time are required to demonstrate they caught up on missed learning.
Photo from urbanmushrooms.co.uk
You will be working in small groups to complete a design project. There is design time on the various weekends to complete the project. You are advised to, as a group, do some extra work between the weekends. You will be given extra optional material to explore in between the weekends to further your learning in your own time.
I am excited that on this course we will be joined by Adi from Adi’s Urban Mushrooms, who will run a session on oyster mushroom cultivation where each participant can take home an inoculated bag to grow oyster mushrooms at home.
See pictures from some of our previous courses here:
Venue - The Brixton Remakery
The in-person sessions of the course will take place at the Brixton Remakery, ‘a cooperative workshop and hot desk space in South London developing opportunities around the reuse of surplus materials’.
What will the course cover?
“Permaculture is a dance with nature - in which nature leads.”
Much of our Permaculture Design Course is focused around patterns and processes within nature and how they can help us provide for our most fundamental human needs.
The design methodology and the permaculture principles that are thought can be used by anyone and be integrated in any job or life situation, far beyond gardening. You will learn about the common sense, permaculture way of setting up food systems, interacting with the natural world, building community, organising people, learning – all of that inspired by the example of the natural world.
Topics covered on the course include, but are not limited to:
• Ethics and principles of permaculture
• Systems thinking, design process and methodology
• Soil, ecology and land regeneration
• Cultivated ecology: gardens and farms, agroforestry, mushroom cultivation
• Climate crisis & our appropriate response
• Community dynamics & organisation
• Personal health and healthy societies
• Ecological buildings
• Urban challenges and urban permaculture, including retrofitting
• Energy conservation and renewable energy
Each weekend includes theory and some practical hands on work, which includes doing design work in small groups. The designs you create will be presented on the last two days of the course. During the design sessions you will have the opportunity to integrate the things you learn during the course and you will have support from the tutors.
We will share handouts and other helpful information on an online learning platform, offer opportunities to volunteer at local projects and encourage you to build learning groups with other course participants to support each other through sharing, experimenting and reflecting.
Your course tutor
Lead tutor of the course is Michel Thill.
Michel has studied Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning with a special interest in the relationship between ecological and cultural renewal. He's come across Permaculture during his studies and was drawn to its ability to bring together ecological design, community/village building and personal resilience.
Michel has travelled extensively, staying in eco-communities across India and South-East Asia as well as Europe, learning about and applying permaculture design and deep ecology ideas wherever possible.
Michel lives in South Devon applying Permaculture Design to land-based projects. Before that he was based in London teaching permaculture and running various community and food growing projects through Social Landscapes. Inspired by permaculture, forest gardening and ecovillage design, Social Landscapes seeks to create flourishing and resilient micro-cultures within London through transformative permaculture training and engaging people in the outdoors to reinvent the public spaces they live in.
There will be guest teachers on the various weekends.
What do past participants say?
“The course was a fantastic learning process and a truly enjoyable experience. The tutors were very knowledgeable and transmitted Permaculture as an approach to living, thinking, doing, making and being. The ethics, principles and thinking tools of Permaculture have become a new mindset.” – Raquel, PhD student in Food Policy
"It has completely changed my perspective towards every aspect of my life: my health, my relationship with family and friends, my relationship with the Earth." - Anonymous
“An inspirational personal growth adventure that I would recommend to everyone. The urban PDC is particularly useful for building practice into your daily lives and offers a response to many issues that we are facing whilst building a supportive family and community of Permaculture practisers to encourage future creativity. The tutors are the warmest and exciting people and Treadwell is a space of calm, enthusiasm and mindfulness. “ – Sam
"The course gave me direction and the opportunity of transforming a passion into a job." - Anonymous
“Studying the Permaculture method within an urban context was both empowering and thought-provoking. Presented with such realistic opportunities for positive change within the confines of the city and studying with likeminded people was extremely heartwarming. The mixture of practical and theory along with passionate teachers and guest speakers plus a variety of venues kept my interest and allowed for genuine integration of the teachings. I’m well prepared for continued use of the Permaculture tools and happily supported by the community that I’m now a part of, I cannot recommend this course enough.” – Zoe, Finance Assistant at Comic Relief
Pricing & Registration
To register for the course, please fill in the form below. We will then be in touch with details about the course and payment. The payment will complete your registration and secure your place. Please be aware that our London courses are generally overbooked - so book early to guarantee your spot.
If there are any questions, please contact Michel: michel@sociallandscapes.co.uk or 07901036220.
The course is offered on a sliding scale to make it affordable for everyone. Payment by instalments is also possible, in which case you will be asked to have paid minimum half the course fee before the start of the course and the full fee by the end of January 2023.
Please make your choice of price with awareness to what it’s worth: the course offers 72 hours of teaching; and you’ll walk away with a Permaculture Design Certificate awarded by the UK Permaculture Association. Paying the normal fee of £570 covers our cost (incl. venue and basic pay for the facilitation team). Paying £760 enables the facilitators to be paid more and opens up concessions for people not being able to afford the full price.
We have some concessions available. If you would like to apply for one of those please let us know when filling the form. If you can’t afford any of these, incl. the concession, please consider raising money for the course or get in touch to explain your case and we can see how we can make it work.
You can’t afford to pay for the course? Why not raise money for it, either through ‘We The Trees’ or through your own means. The course total will only need to be paid by September 2020.
The income brackets below are loose guidelines.
Concession – £380 - please note that there is only a limited number of these available
Income below 22000pa – £570
Income more than £22000pa or ‘pay it forward’ option – £760
Please click here to see our Cancellation & Refund Policy.
