Hi. First time poster.
I'm curious as to whether anyone's been to the 3-day (formerly 5-day) self-build course at the NSBRC:

http://www.buildstore.co.uk/mykindofhome/events/self-build-courses.html

I'm not connected to the course or the organisation, and I'm just starting out on my self-build odyssey, was mainly wondering if anyone here's had experience of either that course or paid-for courses at the centre. I'm thinking I'll go on one Q1 of next year, assuming it's not a complete horror!

Cheerio for now.

Pete

Right, I'm back from this event now.

Massively helpful to me as a keen learner with some basic knowledge. Dave Hilton's half-day session on eco tech was the high point of the weekend. Full report will be blogged and linked later, but the bullet point review follows:

Good stuff
- Dave Hilton and his cut-the-crap approach to eco tech. Zero sales pitch from him.
- Copious amounts of notes on the presented slides. Enough to make a book from, I would think.
- Camaraderie between attendees and presenters

Not-so-good
- Bit too much info squeezed into 3-day course, would have been better reducing info to fit into 3 days, or make it a 4-day course. Less of a problem with the amount and quality of printed notes.
- Some slides very busy. Presenter rushed a wee bit to squeeze things into the time allotted.
- Questions were asked during the slides and the flow was broken up, meaning things over-ran.

Verdict: really very good, and recommended for anyone undertaking a renovation/new build. Likely most useful in the earlier stages rather than during a build.