Our Blog

Canadian think tank urges planners to look to Treehouse Village for inspiration

By Terry Lavender, Treehouse Village Media & External Relations Coordinator “For inspiration, Nova Scotian planners and communities could look to the Treehouse Village Ecohousing project in Bridgewater.” That’s one of the conclusion of authors Jara de Hoog, Alice Cohen, & Andrew Biro in their recent report for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, “Challenging Nova Scotia’s Climate Change Plan to Do Better.” In the report,…

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The Common House is Open!

The Common House (Photo by Terry Lavender). A birthday dance party and a children’s summer camp are just two of the many activities that marked the opening of Treehouse Village Ecohousing’s 4000 square foot Common House earlier this summer. The Common House, which includes laundry facilities, two guest rooms, a dining hall, communal kitchen, children’s play room and lounge and workspace, was given conditional occupancy…

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Celebrating Sustainability and Community

Treehouse Village Ecohousing’s Inaugural Open House By Terry Lavender On June 22, two days after the Summer Solstice, Treehouse Village Ecohousing (TVE) hosted its first open house to celebrate the completion of Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing community in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. More than 100 people attended this landmark event, including Bridgewater Deputy Mayor Cheryl Fougere, who conveyed greetings on behalf of Mayor David Mitchell and…

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Treehouse Villagers Choose Condo Board Directors

Treehouse Village reached another milestone on April 28, as the community’s newly registered condominium corporation held its first Annual General Meeting and chose the new condo board. Self-governed and co-developed by its residents, Treehouse Village is a welcome option for those seeking eco-friendly, community-oriented living. One of the first decisions the community made in 2018 was to select sociocracy for our decision-making processes. Sociocracy is…

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Treehouse Village is alive with fun activities this spring!

By Allyson Rowley, Community Reporter From a wood carving workshop to dance parties in the Common House to a Wellness Weekend, Treehouse Village Ecohousing is alive with many fun, community-led activities this spring. Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing development, Treehouse Village is a vibrant, multi-generational community dedicated to living lightly on the earth. Treehouse kids are playing on the Common Green and we’re enjoying the lovely…

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You’re invited to Treehouse Village on Saturday, June 22!

Come celebrate the Summer Solstice with us! SAVE THE DATE: Treehouse Village is hosting a Community Open House on Saturday, June 22, between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing development, Treehouse Village Ecohousing is now a vibrant, multi-generational community. Our residents range in age from four months to over 80. Construction is almost complete on our 4000-sq.ft. Common House (the heart of…

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‘We felt at home right from the day we arrived’

L to R: Phil Aylesworth, Sue Aylesworth, Therese Kirrane, Sunil Kittur. (Photo by Sharon de Souza.) By Treehouse Village Ecohousing Treehouse Village Ecohousing is so excited to welcome our two new households! Sue and Phil Aylesworth made the trek to Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, from Windsor, Ontario, in January. They jumped right into the community — Phil operated the Treehouse snow plow and he now manages…

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“We did it!” Treehouse Village celebrates the completion of our eco-friendly, multi-age cohousing development

Photos by Shirley Robb, Treehouse community member By Allyson Rowley, Community Reporter Treehouse Village Ecohousing, Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing development, is now a vibrant, multi-age community with construction substantially completed and all but one of our 30 condos pre-sold. Residents have moved into their energy-efficient homes and are working together to put the finishing touches on this unique, community-oriented cohousing development. “This is an amazing…

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The Maple: A bright, spacious home in a unique multi-generational community

Now available: Treehouse Village’s bright and spacious top-floor home — the Maple!  This 1,006-sq.ft. condo offers two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a big kitchen, an open-concept living area, and plenty of room to work from home. You’ll enjoy a unique multi-age community, while sharing valuable common amenities and 16 acres of land with 29 other households. All this, located in Bridgewater — a thriving town on…

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Treehouse in the News

Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing community is generating a lot of interest in the media, both regionally and nationally. In recent months, Treehouse Village Ecohousing has been featured in Maclean’s Magazine, on CBC Television and Radio, the Halifax Examiner, and even the Weather Network website. The media outlets have been interested in our passive house construction, our sharing of common spaces and values and, of course,…

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From Berlin to Bridgewater in less than a year

By Bastian Gruber, Treehouse Village community member It has been a big year of trade-offs and jumping in an adventure head first. Joining a co-housing community and moving to a small town were, what we thought, the biggest challenges. Shortly after we signed the TVE shareholders’ agreement, we felt the floor ripped beneath us with the announcement of the 35% price increase.  Not having any…

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The Oak: Perfect for families or working from home (or both!)

By Allyson Rowley, Community Reporter Heather Yundt and Etienne Baqué moved into their Oak in September with their twin six-year-old daughters. The family quickly enjoyed the benefits of living in Treehouse Village’s multi-generational, family friendly, 30-unit cohousing community. There even was a welcome ceremony for them when they moved in! Etienne, Mila, Heather and Margot being welcomed to the community. Photo by Shirley Robb A…

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First Snowfall!

Treehouse Village woke up on December 4 to a blanket of snow covering our community. The residents lost no time in building snowpeople, sledding and tobogganing and otherwise enjoying the first snow accumulation of the year. Photos by Treehouse resident Sharon de Souza.

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More About Solar

Recently we published a blog post about Treehouse Village’s solar power (“Here Comes the Sun”). The post piqued the curiosity of several people who wanted to learn more about our solar installation, so we asked our resident expert, Wayne Groszko, to provide some more details. Here’s what he had to say: The total capacity of all the solar power systems installed at Treehouse Village is…

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Pictures of welcome: Treehouse Villagers are moving in

Pictures of welcome: Treehouse Villagers are moving in At Treehouse Village, we’re fortunate to have a professional photographer in the community. Shirley Robb has been busy capturing a visual record of our welcome parades and other fun festivities, as more households begin to move into our 30-unit, multi-age, eco-friendly cohousing community in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. So far, we’ve welcomed Treehouse Villagers who hail from Bridgewater,…

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“While I’ve moved many times before, I’ve never moved to a place that already felt like home”

Teri (far right) joins in a welcome ceremony for her new neighbours. Teri and her family moved to Treehouse Village to “live closer to nature, to community, to the things that we love.” (Photo by Treehouse Villager Shirley Robb.) I looked up at the blue sky and bright sun as I stopped to take in the smell of the fresh-cut grass on the soccer field….

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A special “Rite of Passage trek” to Treehouse Village

A Rite of Passage is a ceremony or event marking an important stage in someone’s life. My partner, Matt, and I decided to go on a very special pilgrimage – to mark our own “rite of passage” as we transition to our new home at Treehouse Village.We decided to walk the 130 kilometers (80 miles) from the front door of our last apartment in Halifax…

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Here comes the sun!

Solar panels are on the rooftops of all our buildings at Treehouse Village. Our eco-friendly homes are almost ready! Photo by Treehouse Villager Emma Savage. Drone photo courtesy of Vince Casey. By Allyson Rowley, Community Reporter Have you heard of Treehouse Village Ecohousing? We’re the eco-friendly, multi-age housing development located on 15 acres of forested land in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.  Now in the last stretch…

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“We were home”: Treehouse Village Ecohousing Welcomes Its First Residents

Treehouse Village Ecohousing, Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing community, has its first residents. The first family to move in was that of Clara Lovatt and Kathy Horton in late July. They were joined later the same day by the Stonhams – Caitlin, David, and their son Alfie. A few days later, Shirley Robb joined them at the cohousing development in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.  Treehouse Village Ecohousing…

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Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Many families are moving to Bridgewater, and when Arlene, Wendy and Cedar (their 13 yr. old Labradoodle) pulled up stakes in Victoria, there were 9⅔ (Katy & Michael; Rick-not yet) households living there. Their arrival on December 18, 2022, made the community ⅓ present, even though none are yet living in their Treehouse homes. Getting to the starting line…weaving the plans together Arlene and Wendy…

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All Sold – Treehouse Village Ecohousing

Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing community slated for completion in early 2023 A “seed of an idea” planted more than four years ago has come to fruition. Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing community – Treehouse Village Ecohousing – announced today that all units are pre-sold. The development is well underway at its location in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, with construction slated for completion in early 2023. The 30-unit,…

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A multilingual cohousing community

Pourquoi? Warum? Por qué? Waarom? Why are so many folks flocking to purchase a home at Treehouse Village Ecohousing in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia? One of the exciting things about our community is all the languages our members speak — French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch (so far!). But no matter the language, we all speak “cohousing”. We can’t wait to share meals in the Common…

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Treehouse Village Ecohousing Site showing the buildings under construction

Construction Update

Signs of spring are popping at 54 Pearl Street, including some accelerated progress on the building of Treehouse Village! Despite the challenges of our winter weather, we have been making steady progress with constructing our community.  At this point, in early April, work is happening on the workshop, the common house, and three of the four residential buildings (buildings 1, 3, and 4).  Workshop &…

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Two bedrooms, a mudroom and a view of the Common Green – what’s not to love about the Pine?

A spacious kitchen with a breakfast bar, an open concept living and dining area, two bedrooms and a front door that opens onto green space, and all this for under $400,000. What’s not to love about the Pine? For Teona and Max Bjork, it was an easy decision to make. Originally, they had planned to move into a 3-bedroom Oak, but when a Pine became available,…
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A big deal about a small town

I’m one of the many Canadians who have decided in the last year or so to escape urban life for healthier, greener pastures. I plan to work remotely and enjoy that elusive thing called a better quality of life. So, I’ve bought a condo at Treehouse Village and I’ll be moving to a town called Bridgewater. I didn’t know much about Bridgewater before I joined…

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Modern energy efficient new 2 or 3 bedroom home in Bridgewater Nova Scotia in a family friendly cohousing eco friendly community.

The Oak: Our largest home is ideal for family living

A home for their children to grow into. A home office. Enough room so that the grandparents can visit. Being able to step outside into nature. These are just some of the factors that drew the Parry and Bjork families to Treehouse Village’s most spacious home, the Oak. The 1,264 square feet Oak includes three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a spacious kitchen, and an open-concept living…

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Treehouse Village and Climate Resilience

With the extreme weather we are seeing, the resiliency of Treehouse Village is at the forefront of my thoughts. When Scott and I first decided to move to Nova Scotia, location was top of mind. We wanted to make sure that we were not on a flood plain. We also wanted to ensure that we were not too close to the ocean, so rising sea…

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Land Acknowledgment

By Katherine Harman and Kathy Horton Since July 2020, we have opened our Zoom Full Circle Gatherings and Meetings with “Treehouse Village is being built on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq peoples. We are grateful to be building on this land. We will live in peace and seek means of reconciliation.” We then requested that those not currently in Mi’kmaki type the…

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Groundbreaking Ceremony for Atlantic Canada’s First Cohousing Community

Treehouse Village Ecohousing celebrates start of construction What: Official Groundbreaking Celebration for Treehouse Village EcohousingWhen: Saturday, August 21, 10:00 a.m. ADTWhere: 54 Pearl Street, Bridgewater, Nova Scotia Bridgewater, NS—Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing community will mark the start of construction on Saturday, August 21, with activities including planting of a fruit tree by the community’s children, refreshments, music, speeches, and other festivities.Treehouse Village Ecohousing will be…

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Sounds Like Life to Me: Parenting in a Busy World

When I heard about what families are trying to create with Treehouse Village Ecohousing, I understood this to be more than just a community with energy-efficient homes and a pretty cool common house. To me, it was a way of creating a lifestyle that gives you more time for the things that are really important.
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The Biggest Gift I Could Give My Only Child

We already live in a society where parenting in isolation has become the norm. Our “DIY” culture has us striving for our own house, yard, and all the “things” we need to be a self-sufficient family unit. With that DIY attitude comes the mindset that we are also to be all to our children.
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Taking an Active Role in Energy Efficiency with Passive House

Are you interested in a more sustainable way of living on the planet? Have you heard of Passive House? Treehouse Village Ecohousing hosted a webinar on April 18 to share why we’re building our 30 homes to the high energy-efficient standards of Passive House. Treehouse Village is a multi-age cohousing community now in development on 15 acres of land in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. We’re dedicated…

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Tree Clearing

Last weekend, we prepared for cutting the trees in the “disturbed area,” which is the part of the land where we’ll be building our homes.
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The Cat’s Out of the Bag – We are now on MLS!

The word has been “out” for quite some time, but it’s now “out” in a different way. Treehouse Village has posted our available homes on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), which you can see on both Realtor.ca and Viewpoint.ca, with more details at Innovative Real Estate LTD. This is very exciting, as it will greatly extend our reach.  Is selling homes really what it’s all…

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Returning to Nova Scotia

I’ve lived a lot of places in my adult life. I confess that I was born in the US, so most of the places I lived were there, but I moved to Nova Scotia in 2006 and very quickly felt more at home than I had felt in any of the five states I had lived in over a period of 20-odd years. Why? One…

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Informal Childcare Arrangements in a Cohousing Village

My name is Caitlin, and I struggle to ask for help.  As a result of this single-minded independence, I have avoided formal childcare arrangements for the entire two years I’ve been a parent. It doesn’t matter how burnt-out I am, or how many work deadlines have piled up, I’ll never call a friend and ask them to watch my son, even for a few hours. …

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Five Week Storm

The year 2020 will be memorable for many of us. My partner and I had an especially memorable event in October with the arrival of our first child. This time of distress really showed us the value of a cohousing community.
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Multigenerational Cohousing Group Seeks Young Families

The vision for Treehouse Village Ecohousing is a multigenerational community of 30 privately owned homes, together on a shared property with common amenities. In December 2018 members took the bold step of reserving half of the homes in the community for households with at least one member under the age of 40.
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What size cohousing home is right for me?

As we move closer to selecting the homes we will move into, I find myself second-guessing my preference for the size of my unit. Although many of the factors may be relevant to deciding to buy into and join a cohousing community, when it comes to considering the size of your home, there are some other things to consider.
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Our Development Agreement Is Approved!

On November 9th 2020, the Bridgewater Town Council unanimously approved the development agreement (DA) with Treehouse Village Ecohousing. Fifty-four Pearl Street will be the future home of a sustainable 30-unit collective residential development.
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“Yes! Let’s do it!” – Building a cohousing community in Bridgewater

My first introduction to Treehouse Village came when friends reached out to share their big dream of building a cohousing community that would become the greenest neighbourhood in Nova Scotia. I wanted to help them make it happen. In order to build this custom neighbourhood, future neighbours would have to join as early as possible to finance the project and act as the developer -…
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Treehouse Village Myths about cohousing

Common Cohousing Myths and Misconceptions

I’ve been with Treehouse Village since the get-go, and there aren’t many questions about it that surprise me anymore. “Is it for introverts?”, “Is it a cult?”, “Do you share bathrooms?”. I don’t mind answering even the strangest questions, as I appreciate curiosity. While cohousing has been successful in other parts of the world, including North America, the idea is new to Atlantic Canada. Many…

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The Pull of the Little City

I think I’ve finally found the solution to my rural versus urban quandary in Treehouse Village Ecohousing. Bridgewater offers the amenities which I usually associate with urban living in addition to the benefits of a more rural lifestyle, and when you add cohousing into the mix, it covers all bases!
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Brigus the Labrador Retriever

I really like helping with chores and love to carry laundry and lunch boxes and groceries in from the car. The only time I got carried away was when Shelley asked me to carry in three blocks of cheese, one at a time.
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My Accidental Swim

I am a 16 year old cat, long, lanky, and orange, with the beginnings of grey showing around my ears and whiskers. I have lived in many places in my long life, all (except for the very first bit, which I don’t remember very well) with my family of humans. The story I’m going to tell you is from my time on the boat.
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Why I Traded my Tiny House for Cohousing

If you’d told me in 2016, while I was building my Tiny House, that in 2020 I’d have put down my life savings on a deposit for a home in a town I’d only been to twice, that was projected to cost more money than I’d earned in my entire life, I’d have laughed, then asked you what you were smoking. What changed? For starters,…
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Buzzing with Possibilities: What Cohousing Could Offer My Family

My mind was buzzing with possibilities as I walked home from the info session. I was playing out my daily routine in my house and comparing it to life at Treehouse Village. It was clear we could do a lot more with less. The move would involve downsizing to a home with considerably less square footage but grant us more shared space, amenities, and community…
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Treehouse Village’s Cohousing Colour Challenge #cohocolourchallenge

While we all are isolating at home, the pandemic hasn’t stopped Treehouse Villagers from strengthening our community. When Cate emailed with the invitation to take on the colour challenge, I was thrilled to see her family’s pink pose, but reluctant to join in. It was only after the “reply alls” filled my inbox from members stepping up to the challenge that I was nudged to…
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Finding Treehouse Village

“I’ve found a cohousing project on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. It looks interesting and they have an information session on YouTube. Do you want to listen to it while we drive?”
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We are one step closer to building our community

Last month, we gathered virtually and consented to the design for Treehouse Village. This is one big step closer to building Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing neighbourhood! Consenting to the design was a big decision. Although we are excited to reveal the details of the physical common kids room, the unit floor plans, and the many gardens, the biggest development is the resiliency of this social…
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A Grand Adventure in Bridgewater

In late February, Erin McQueen, sister to Treehouse Village Ecohousing member Caitlin Stonham, joined her family on a weekend in Bridgewater while they attended Treehouse Village meetings. Here, Erin shares some of the highlights of the town, from a visitor’s perspective.
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Birds of a feather flock together – Online fun during Covid-19

Last Friday, rather than having fun with just the adults at Treehouse Village, we decided to try and have some online fun that involved some of our community kids. Our event planning team put on their thinking caps and came up with a community craft night, where we would all sit together over video conferencing and do a craft together. This then became our Friday…

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5 Ways to Show Community Resilience in a Pandemic

Not only have our members found that working on our development is an excellent distraction from the boredom of social isolation, we’ve also been able to draw emotional support from each other in these trying times. But how exactly have we been able to keep the “social” in “social distancing”? Our success rests on the strong foundation that we’ve built together over the past year…
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Why does cohousing make sense for our families?

Treehouse Village parents weigh in When I decided to write a blog post to share my family’s thought process on moving to a cohousing community, I thought it would be interesting to hear from other families who are part of this project. I asked some TVE members with kids, “What was the clincher for you in deciding TVE was where you wanted to raise your…

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A Newcomer’s Guide to Treehouse Meetings

Meetings are run a bit differently here. You’ll find some impressive things (like a group being completely civilized and focused on reaching an agreement quickly) and other things that make you wonder what’s going on (like the process of checking in at the beginning and out at the end). Here’s a quick overview of what to expect and why we run our meetings this way….
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First 3D Rendering

✓ Design workshop series completed. We are now in the Design Development stage, where those designs will be refined and costed. ✓ Early 3D rendering of the design received (see above). ✓ Project Manager hired. ✓ Geotechnical survey completed. ✓ Town of Bridgewater held a Public Participation Meeting as part of our Development Agreement process. ✓ 18 members signed up for Intro to Sociocracy training…

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Workshop #4 and Approval of Schematic Design

On December 7-8 we did our final design workshop. At the workshop we approved the schematic design, the architects will shift into the design development phase, where we will refine the plans add more detail. Construction drawings will follow and we’ll be building before you know it! Treehouse Village is already a hive of activity. Our members are busy hiring a project manager, researching construction…

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Design Development – Here we come!

This weekend we held the fourth and final design workshop with our architects. They presented us with a set of schematic drawings for our village including: Site LayoutCommon HousePrivate Units As a community we consented to the schematic design for the Village. This design aligns with our vision and our values. Next we move into the design development phase where engineering consultants are brought on,…

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We have land!

We’re so happy to share that we have secured the land for our future community. It’s an incredible 15 acre parcel of forested land including many old growth trees, bordered by the Centennial Trail (a multi-use active transportation trail) and centrally located in town. The land has an excellent walkability score and is zoned “comprehensive residential” permitting cohousing design by entering into a development agreement.

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Design Workshop #3 – Private Homes

The weekend began with a great reveal of the initial design of our common house based upon the input provided at the previous design workshop. In this workshop, we spent the weekend talking through the various features of our private homes.

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Design Workshop #2

Our Sept 14-15 workshop was all about designing the common house. In cohousing, the common house is the heart of the community, and an extension of each family’s home. It is a place where you can practice your hobbies, share food and fun, and be yourself around trusted neighbours.

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First Workshop Success!

We had so much fun letting our creative juices flow at our first Design Workshop! On day #1 we spent time envisioning and prioritizing the kinds of elements we want to include on the site… woodworking shop, gardens, children’s play spaces, and so on. We then took our ideas and walked the site, imagining what could be where.  On day #2, we were given scale…

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Meet Our Architects (Caddis Collaborative & RHAD)

Today we welcome on board our architecture team: two firms that combine specializations in cohousing, green building, as well as knowledge of the local industry and vernacular. RHAD and Caddis Collaborative are now tasked with designing our community, bringing our dreams closer to reality. The first step of the design phase will begin this fall. As a community we will participate in four design workshops,…

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Design Workshop #1: Site Plan

The first design workshop us all about the Site Plan: identifying what kinds of activities we want to do on the site, and mapping out where they will go. The common house, the homes, the gardens, the play spaces, parking, the treehouse, and so on.

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Welcome to the team, Caddis!

We are delighted to announce that Caddis Collaborative will be the cohousing architectural firm for Treehouse Village! We were humbled to receive proposals from several of the top cohousing architects in North America, and after a rigorous selection process, Bryan Bowen and his team at Caddis ended up being the right fit for TVE’s vision. Bryan will lead a design team which will include cohousing…

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An Offer on Land

We are so excited to announce that we have an accepted offer on an incredible parcel of land, located at 54 Pearl St in Bridgewater. We have agreed to meet conditions by October 1st, which gives us time to do a feasibility study on this land, to confirm that the visions we have for Treehouse Village can indeed happen on this site. During that time,…

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