Team Building: getting started

Thanks for the updates !

For the communication app: I have Whatsapp, Signal, Messenger. I would prefer not to install one more, but I can if necessary.

I’ll keep you posted as soon as I have had a look at the questionnaire.

Cheers,
Alexandre.

1 Like

Thanks all. Below a couple of thoughts, in random order.

Agenda:

@GiuSeb:

  • Can we maybe add a point to operationalise the objective on researching architectural choices a little more? It could be attributing different topics of the Schoonschip wiki to different people, or listing different topics (heat domes, power cuts, potable water shortages, solarpunk, …) and attribute these to different people, or …
  • Another topic that believe would benefit from a short discussion is the meeting with the architects. My impression is that we don’t have a common understanding yet of what the purpose of this meeting is. I’ll write a short post about it one of this days.
    @matteomeschiari: in the meantime, are you ok with me joining in in the email conversation that you started with S&F?
  • If ok with you I’m going to take the liberty to put the next meeting on top of the “agenda & minutes” document (rather than at the bottom). It’s a bit counterintuitive, but it will make a big difference when the document gets longer.

Some links that maybe useful in the preparation:

Just in case, here are two links that may be useful in the preparation:I

  • Copy of a questionnaire from another cohousing that we received (internal link)
  • The Reef’s Blueprint 1.0 brochure (see p. 6 "How we picture the common spaces)

Smartphone communication:

I have a strong preference for keeping communication on Edgeryders and Nextcloud only, so I’d rather stay out of it.

Schoonschip consultancy services

I’m afraid this is going to cost money and we are not quite there yet as a group. My proposal would be to wait with this until we have more information from the meeting with the architects.

Visits to cohousings:

  • For l’Echappée my proposal would be to sacrifice some time of our plenary meeting on 1 September. The reasoning is that it’s super important to get to a common understanding and thus sacrificing the time. @Sarah: if you agree, could you maybe check whether this could be after the plenary meeting, say around 21:30?
  • For Schoonschip, given that the visit alone costs 250 euro, there is a budgetary constraint. I’ll write a short post shortly with a little more details and I’ll tag you.

Small final note

I have an unexpected private matter that I have to attend to in the coming days that is taking up all my mental energy. I will thus be a little less available, and generally only at half of my brain power. I expect to be back by the beginning of next week.

2 Likes

Dear all,

@Lee - so I made some amendments to the agenda, and I hope this covers your points: Agenda

I hope your private matter is resolved in the best way.

Giulia

1 Like
  • @Lee
    Thank you Lie. Appreciated.
    And definitely when needed please join in. I saw you already added up to the email to S+F.
    I think in general there is a first knowledge transfer but hopefully soon we can take more weight off your shoulder.

- Instant communication
I’ll wait next meeting to set up a group since here it’s hard to get response regarding preferences from everyone.
I would say tough that the 26/7 we decide and set it up.

Wish you all a good weekend.

1 Like

Hi all,
I have finished translating the questionnaire provided by Mark, and I’ve added it to our Nextcloud folder. Feel free to have a look before the meeting, but no pressure, I don’t think it’s very urgent.

See you tomorrow!
Alexandre.

1 Like

Hi there :slight_smile:
So… I got my time differences a bit mixed up, and it will actually be 5.30am here at the time you guys meet… Won’t be able to make that I’m afraid :frowning:
So I’ll try and sum up a few things for my part here:

  • Communication: I have whatsapp and signal ; happier with signal but i’m fine either way… Would rather not have to download another app unless absolutely necessary…
  • Schoonship visit: they are not really available during the summer holliday, so it will be best to book from late august. The person that wrote the email suggested giving him 2-3 dates/times that work for us , and they’ll put us through to an available guide. Note: max 15 persons
  • L’échapée: I already contacted Celine and the 1st of september would work. But I am wondering if 9.30 won’t be a bit late to start the tour? It would mean finishing at 10.15pm, that seems a bit late, no? anyway we can shorten the plennary?? Celine is asking if we want to visit some appartements as well? In which case it would take more than 40mn…
    @Lee , apparently you wanted to ask some questions about their manual. Celine is suggesting we invite some people to another meeting for that; what do you think? Or are they questions that could be answered any other way?
  • For the method for choosing the date, personnally I’m happy either way. Choosing 2 or 3 dates ahead of the poll might be easier to manage though…
  • Categories for studying the impact of the building choices: I"m happy to go with the categories from schoonship. And I’m happy to study any category as I don"t really have background for any (apart maybe for ecology but that"s probably not a priority…)
  • Questionnaire for common spaces: I am not sure if this has to be determined already, but it would be great to have the possibility of a “baby corner” next to the kitchen, ie somewhere where you can put small children to play safely and be checked upon (glass window) while the parents cook. We saw this at earth song and thought that would be very nice :slight_smile:
    I would also quite like it if the possibility of having one floor vs 2 (duplex) would be included.
  • I am still very unclear about the process of choosing the common spaces… I feel like we’ll need a financial evaluation between the results of the questionnaire (what we would ideally like) and the final decision (what is actually reasonnable given our personnal expected budget). Maybe that decision process needs to be clarified?

That’s it for now! Off to bed here on the other side of the world :slight_smile:
Have a productive meeting ans see you soon!

Sarah

1 Like

Hi all,
I’m getting started on the minutes, but it seems that the document I see is the old version, without the updated list of common space ideas. @GiuSeb : Is it possible that you wrote on your own local version of it yesterday? If so, could you copy the table into the online version? I’ll write the minutes around that, and I’ll clean up the list later.
Cheers!

Hey @Alexandre ! Unfortunately the document didn’t save :frowning: I don’t know why. So I tried to add all that I could remember from yesterday’s the list. Can you have a look at it too and see if I forgot something?

Giulia

1 Like

I had written notes because I couldn’t see your screen, and it all seems to be there.


@Sarah: thanks a lot for your detailed input. Much appreciated! Here are some replies:

Visiting an apartment would be nice, but at the same time I find it such a pity to sacrifice so much of our plenary meeting time. Can we maybe rethink this?

These are great ideas. I think they will be a great add when we do a brainstorming at the plenary meeting on 15 September. Let’s bear in mind though that what we don’t need to decide everything into the last detail yet. To be able to purchase a site we just need to get a rough agreement on which common spaces we would like to get.

In budgetary terms some part of this decision has been taken already. In the Blueprint 1.0 we said that we would like to get around 300 m² of common spaces, which - at a cost of 3300 euro / m² adds about a million euro to the entire budget. For everybody’s private unit that means that a certain percentage (on average about 10?) of the value of your personal unit is the value of the common spaces.

So the choice we are making right now is more: given that we’ll have 300 m², how do we want to fill this in? As a side-question to that, there is then the question on whether some common spaces could generate some revenue, and if yes, whether we are up for setting up a cooperative. This is something we’re getting advice on shortly (see this thread on an upcoming meeting with an expert)

2 Likes

Thanks a lot, @GiuSeb and @Lee !
I’m away until Monday, I’ll have another look when I’m back.
Cheers!

1 Like

Hello Team @reef-building,

I’ve made a first draft of the agenda for the 16th August: https://c301.nl.tabdigital.eu/apps/onlyoffice/23097?filePath=%2FThe%20Reef%20shared%20folder%2FTeam%20Building%2FMeetings%2FAgendas%20and%20minutes%20-%20Team%20Building.docx

Giulia

2 Likes

Following on from my post above @reef-building
One of the points on the agenda is to continue our discussion on operationalising research on architectural solutions. I wanted to share something with you. The EU Commission recently published a " transition pathway for a resilient, greener and more digital construction ecosystem". The staff working document recently published includes criteria identified by their research for how to increase the sustainability of construction. Here is a quick summary from me of some of the points.

Giulia
Summary - Sustainable Construction.pdf (689.2 KB)

3 Likes

Hello team,
Thank you Alexandre, Giulia and Lie!

I am basically offline till the 11th of August.
It’s the first true vacation I take since few years so I will be more active only after.
Anyway, I post hereby the categories taken from ‘Schoonschip’.
As we mentioned, this is an initial categorisation that can evolve when and if we see it’s needed.
Please feel free to add, remove or any other.

  • materials
  • energy
  • water
  • food
  • ecology

We can take each of us in alphabetical order a category (e.g. Alexandre materials and so on; excluding Lie)

My first ‘spontaneous’ suggestions would be to:

  • remove ecology (because it’s something present in every category)
  • add waste
  • add aesthetics

All the best to all.
A presto

2 Likes

Hey Matteo,

Thanks for the list!
I agree that ecology should not be a separate category, and waste is definitely one that makes sense (but perhaps less broad than the others? It feels like that is very limited by regulations).
I’m happy to dive into materials, but I’m also happy to swap with someone who has more affinity with the topic (@GiuSeb maybe?). If so, I can handle energy, it’s kind of my field of research :smiley: (not this context at all, but maybe it makes sense anyway)

Cheers,
Alexandre.

1 Like

Sophie pointed this out to me https://www.habitat-groupe.be/agenda/namur/28i09-habitat-groupe-et-resilience-energetique-slow-heat/
I’d like to go, and I’ll also have a look at the material in the links.
Let me know if you want to join.

2 Likes

Seems super interesting! I would come but I’m afraid I can’t make it… how would you go and where would you go from?

1 Like

I’d go by train, leaving from Etterbeek.

Hello @reef-building! Just passing by… I would suggest to tour l’Echappée at the beginning of our plenary, because on September 1st the sunset time will be 20:28, and I think we’d better enjoy it in daylight.

Ok… not sure I can make it then… You’ll tell us about it!

@Celine_D good idea! I also thought about that… the only thing is that we’ll be more constraint with time having to get started with the meeting… but maybe that’s a good thing?

Hello @reef-building

Here is the Teams invite for today at 7:30
Click here to join the meeting

See you soon

Giulia