She’s an ex-builder and petrol head now blazing a trail in the sustainable living sphere. Here, Trudy Thompson reveals how she’s made eco-living easier and more accessible for everyone.
It’s nice being right about something, isn’t it? And not just about the small things - but something big, so big that it’s transforming communities across the UK.
Trudy Thompson should know. The eco-entrepreneur runs Bricks & Bread, the sustainable-living centre which educates and trains people on eco living, and gives them the tools and network to do so.
Bricks and Bread could have remained the small social enterprise it started out as in Aldershot, Hampshire, in 2008. Thompson could have patted herself on the back for galvinising her local community into eco-action, and then returned to her right-on lifestyle (she doesn’t fly and grows her own food). Yet, from the beginning, it felt right to do more.
Working as an eco-builder since 2000, Thompson personally oversaw the building of 33 eco-houses in eight years. She understood how easy it was to create them on a budget with the right advice, materials and service providers on board. The problem was, no one else seemed to.
Increasingly, people wanting to create their own eco-home, or even improve aspects of their regular house, could be found with their head in their hands. Passed from bureaucratic local planning departments to expensive architects, to service people seeing pound signs at the mention of ‘eco’ and suppliers selling the wrong materials - eco was suddenly becoming too much effort for everyone.
"Everything about sustainable building is ‘difficult’ because it’s the opposite of what’s currently being done," explains the 40-year-old, who is based in Guildford. "But once you know how to do things, it can cost the same as a normal house. The problem was that there was no connectivity, no person you could go to and ask, or who would answer objectively on it."
“I was earning money from burning fuel and a hole in the ozone layer, and my mum and dad couldn’t afford their water bill”
In 2008, Thompson became that person. She stopped building and set up an eco advice centre to enhance people’s interest in, and knowledge of, sustainability, along with helping them save time, energy and thousands of pounds on their building projects. But it would also save her sanity.
"It meant no longer hitting my head against the wall as a builder, giving people really good advice and then having them say ‘Oh, we’ll ignore it because the architects told us different’ or ‘the suppliers said something else’." Then she’d watch as the costs multiplied and the project was either compromised or completely abandoned.
Today this happens much less, thanks to the expertise she offers. Thompson has a database of 30,000 people she has already helped, a group of 4,000 experts she’s vetted to provide products and services to people across the UK, and she’s already passed them £20m of business following enquiries to Bricks and Bread. Meanwhile, she also provides education and training courses for everyone from local school children to service people on the subject.
To fund all this, she’s had to develop the business side of Bricks and Bread, as she refuses to tailor her services to meet government grants. "I don’t do accredited training. I don’t do tick boxes. I don’t deliver something for councils on their terms because it doesn’t work. My way works but it doesn’t tally with their boxes. They constantly say to me ‘What you’re doing is inspirational and making a difference. If only we’d be able to get past the bureaucracy, we’d be able to help you’."
In fact, it’s Thompson helping them these days. Almost every week, she guest speaks on sustainability at conferences and seminars - many of which are council or government run. This not only generates revenue but also ‘has the same effect as doing a hundred meetings with people’.
Meanwhile, Bricks and Bread’s waste re-use and disposal service also generates substantial income. This involves working with construction companies and disposing of, or re-selling, any surplus waste material leftover after large building projects (tiles, bricks). To do all this though – create a centre, host seminars and manage waste disposal – Thompson needed premises. She found them in a £150K-a-year derelict warehouse.
"Renting a building at the height of the recession when everyone was losing their jobs, the building industry had fallen through the roof, and I had a client who owed me £100K, it was the most stupid thing. But I just knew it was right. It was still the scariest thing I’ve ever done though."
And that is saying something. Because Trudy Thompson has taken more than a few risks in her lifetime. Growing up on a farm, she left school at 15 and entered the motor sport industry. First running a dealership, she went on to become a car technician and stunt driver, earning vast sums of money.
Then, aged 29, everything changed. Stopped in her tracks by the fuel crisis in 2000, she took a look at her life and didn’t like it. "You’re earning money from burning fuel and a hole in the ozone layer and your mum and dad can’t even afford their water bill or have a sustainable business."
With no academic qualifications to fall back on, she retrained as an eco builder, reading and researching everything on the subject before signing up her first client within months. "I’m not someone who can’t get their hands dirty. And I see no reason why, as a woman, I can’t run a building site or be a motor driver."
“I don’t do accredited training. I don’t do tick boxes. I don’t deliver something for councils on their terms because that just doesn’t work”
These days, she’s equally dismissive of the rules. Bricks and Bread may be just three years old, but Thompson has already launched a franchise which is being used by 19 businesses, and has a further 100 looking to sign up. This will see more service providers vetted and training seminars taking place countrywide.
Her board of management, meanwhile, is made up entirely of teenagers aged 12 to 19. Thompson says they inspire her with their enthusiasm, problem solving skills, ability to influence adults and the sheer fact they’re embracing the future better than this generation ever has.
But there’s still time for people, she insists. Small changes can still make big differences when it comes to living a more sustainable lifestyle. Make the sky the limit, she implores… while it’s still here.
Need some free sustainable living advice? Have an eco building query? Need the name of a trusted and reliable supplier? Contact Trudy Thompson and her team at 01252 3114060 or email centre@bricksandbread.com.
By Barbara Walshe
