Adam Land is a 2022 CAT Graduate with an MSc in Sustainability and Adaptation in the Built Environment (which has since evolved into our MSc in Green Building). Since graduating, the socially and ecologically responsible practices that shaped his learning have been pivotal for the career path he moved onto.

Adam’s dissertation explored Community Land Trusts, a form of community-led nonprofit organisation that works to ensure building, land and housing affordability. The social and practical underpinnings of this research can be traced all the way through from his studies to his current work as Lead Facilitator at Down To Earth, a not-for-profit Swansea-based construction company that engages vulnerable and hard-to-reach people in sustainable design and building, including large-scale builds, social housing and smaller heritage projects.

Prior to his studies at CAT, Adam’s work had encompassed outdoor education with young people and site carpentry. His MSc allowed him to combine these lines of work and hone his skills and interests so that he could go on to make the social and sustainable changes he wanted to see.

“My studies at CAT built my skill set and allowed me to gain a high level of knowledge in the area of community-led housing in the UK. I liked CAT’s pragmatic but radical approach to policy change, and also the fact that the courses were mainly based around weeklong modules on site, which meant I had the opportunity to meet a lot of very interesting people from all around the world.”

Recently, Adam has been leading on Down to Earth’s work around Community-led housing, supporting community groups to deliver affordable housing in their own areas.

“I enjoy combining working with communities to engage them meaningfully in the design of their own spaces and working in a practical hands-on way, actually building the buildings.”

Through his dissertation work, he also created a network of contacts that have been instrumental during his journey.

“CAT informed my knowledge of community- led housing, as well as strategic thinking and means to influence policy at a national and local level. Through qualitative interviews I also built up a really extensive list of board members of CLT’s (Community Land Trusts) across the UKk, who I have been able to contact and have offered valuable advice throughout that journey.”

“The course allowed an incredible opportunity for me to take skills and experience I already had, and bolster and shape that into a skill set which I feel can really allow me to make a meaningful change in the world. The contacts and friends I made through both being on site with CAT lecturers and students, and the participants who generously gave their time to be interviewed by me, have been invaluable in my work.”