Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves!

Stanbrook Abbey, in rural Worcestershire U.K., has been home to the Benedictine nuns of the Conventus of Our Lady of Consolation for many years. But with the rising cost of heating, running water and other modern necessities, the Stanbrook nuns have found it more difficult to live in this old Abbey which, when it was built, only had one working faucet and no heating at all.

Next year, they are moving to a new eco-friendly monastery greened-out with rainwater harvesting, reedbed sewage systems, sedum roofs, recycled construction materials, a woodchip boiler and responsibly-sourced timber. Moving is not new to the community as the sisters have resided in five different homes over the past 385 years.

The Abbey has only 22 nuns, which between them had to support the maintenance and overhead of the large Abbey situated on over 20 acres. Dame Andrea Savage, the Abbess at Stanbrook, has said that "manual labour was overtaking monasticism, which is wrong." "We're running a big building, spending thousands of pounds that we don't have on looking after the place and heating it with oil and gas, which isn't good for the environment. We're here for the monastic life and it is being impinged on," she said.

Briefing the architects for their new premises, the nuns required that they live as environmentally friendly as possible, and Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios provided the winning design. Gill Smith, of Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, said the nuns were "very clued up" about what they wanted from their new monastery. "These clients are naturally parsimonious, they're not into buying and consuming like we are and they have a great respect for the natural environment. It's been a privilege working with them. They're so charming and they're quite good fun."

The nuns move in a few months' time and hope to be able to sell the "old" Stanbook Abbey to help pay for their new home. Once the nuns cover their construction costs, the ongoing maintenance of the new facility will be quite low. The sisters are sure to thrive in their new eco-friendly habits.