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HARRISON GARDNER IS a TV presenter, author and the Co-founder of Common Knowledge the Burren-based social enterprise dedicated to giving people the skills they need to create affordable, sustainable and joyful homes.
What inspired you to start Common Knowledge and the other services you provide to help people get more hands-on with their homes?
When I landed in Ireland after nearly a decade on the road, I found myself surrounded by a brilliant community centred around the Fumbally Café in Dublin. It was just after the recession and there was a buzz. People trying new things, starting businesses, sometimes failing, always supporting each other. It was exactly the kind of energy and community I’d been craving.
With no big plans beyond wanting to learn how to build with stone, I bought a 200-year-old cottage in West Clare and made it home. At the time, not many people were self-building in Ireland, and I started getting messages from people asking me to build their homes. I didn’t have the time, or the desire, to do that, but I offered to teach them instead. That became the first Build School – around my breakfast table with just six people.
Six years later, hundreds of people come through Build School every year, learning how their homes work, how to build and project manage, and how to communicate with trades. As the housing crisis has deepened, Build School has become a tool to give people real agency and to help them feel less helpless.
In terms of Common Knowledge being a social enterprise, is it important that your courses have a tiered payment system?
Absolutely. My wife Erin and I teamed up with our co-founders Fionn Kidney and Claire Hickman to turn Build School into the non-profit social enterprise Common Knowledge. It was never about making money. It was always about helping people learn the skills they were lacking to start improving their lives. While we apply for funding (and sometimes get it) about 70% of our income comes from our own activities – our courses, guesthouse and venue hire.
We’ve always offered free Access places when we could afford to, and it’s taken years to build up to a point where we can offer a tiered pricing system that people can self-select. It’s something we’re really proud of but it’s just the beginning. I truly believe everyone, at every income level, would benefit from a week in the Burren – learning, chatting, practising and getting inspired about their homes. We’ll keep working to make that more accessible.
What’s been the most challenging aspect of setting up Common Knowledge?
The biggest challenge was getting Common Knowledge off the ground. The four of us as co-founders really bootstrapped it. We made long-term personal loans, didn’t take salaries for years, and Erin and I ran the whole thing from our family home. With another baby on the way, space got tight fast.
Buying the 50-acre site and retreat centre in the Burren was our saving grace. We were too young an organisation for a bank loan, so we raised €600,000 through community loans from our amazing supporters around the country. That trust and belief in the work we’re doing and its potential impact really kept us going.
Do you think there is a skills gap in Ireland and, if so, what caused it?
There’s a huge skills gap at many levels. Yes, we need more electricians and plumbers, but the gap we focus on at Common Knowledge is closer to home. A few generations ago, our grandparents knew how to do so much, regardless of their day job, mending clothes, fixing furniture, weaving, making their own paints for their houses…
Over time, we’ve outsourced those everyday skills. We’ve specialised, and we’ve come to believe that we shouldn’t, or can’t, do things ourselves. But that’s led to a sense of disempowerment.
I think we’ve given away too much, especially the essential skills that keep us safe, secure and self-reliant: building, growing, cooking, harvesting our own water and energy. These are the skills of a truly resilient home. The things that you don’t think about while they’re flowing, but when they’re cut off, you feel panic.
How have people responded to what you do?
So far, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. I’m not trying to take anything away from anyone and I’ll only do it so long as it’s needed. I’m just trying to remind people that they’re far more capable than they’ve been led to believe. For many, rolling up their sleeves is a last resort. But we’re in a time of last resorts and we created Common Knowledge to help people step into action.
Did the pandemic change people’s appetite for learning practical skills?
It did. Not so much because of the virus itself, but because of being stuck at home. People were suddenly desperate to make their spaces work better for them. The shift from city to countryside, driven by remote work, meant lots of old homes were snapped up and builders were in short supply. We had people coming to us who needed to learn how to make those homes warm, dry and liveable again. That urgency really drove demand.
Aside from your work with Common Knowledge what else are you up to at the moment?
Common Knowledge takes up about three days of my week now. I co-lead it with Fionn Kidney and we’re lucky to have an amazing team keeping things running smoothly. The rest of my time is spent making the second season of my TV show Build Your Own Home, which is coming out in the autumn. I’ve just finished writing my second book, Our Homes: Other Ways to Solve the Housing Crisis, which will also be out around then. And whatever time’s left, I spend building our own home with my daughters Inari and Isla.
What does a typical day at work look like for you?
A Common Knowledge day might involve checking in with our managers, teaching a Build School session or a short course like DIY Concrete Countertops, or updating our voluntary Board of Directors on what we’ve been up to. If I’m lucky, I’ll get one of Ashley Gribben’s incredible meals – she’s the Common Knowledge in-house, Ottolenghi-trained chef.
A TV day usually means an early start, a long drive to some remote corner of the country with a TV crew, and meeting one of our courageous self-builders who are in over their head and need help with a tricky aspect of their self build. Then it’s a race back in time for bedtime stories.
Why are you passionate about ethics and sustainability in your work?
Ha! I’m not sure how to answer that question. I’m not sure I even think about it in those terms. But I think about the people a lot. I really believe in people and their potential. That’s a huge driver for me. After years of building, you learn that the only way to do it is one brick at a time. I guess I’m trying to change the world one person at a time too.
How important is collaboration to your work?
It’s everything. As I said, it’s all about the people. I don’t do anything on my own. Common Knowledge is made up of a team with very different backgrounds and it’s that diversity that gives us our strength.
The same goes for the team behind the TV show and the publishers who’ve helped bring my books to life. My wife Erin and our friend Shantanu Starick have brought what could have been some pretty dry text books on building to life with their illustrations and photography. I’m constantly dreaming up projects that are way beyond my abilities and so I am forced to find people who are much more talented than I am to bring them to life.
If you weren’t doing this, what would you be doing?
I love this question. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. I spent years working with disadvantaged communities. I’d probably go back to doing that. Helping people to overcome challenges and shape the lives they want to live. I’d love to bring everything I’ve learned since then – all the business, fundraising, media, even fatherhood – back into that space.
What’s been your proudest moment or favourite project so far?
I never thought I was going to be a parent, and then I met Erin and it was all I wanted. I wanted to start a huge long term project with her. It has been the most incredible ride and it has changed everything for me. It’s helped me prioritise my time and my energy and given me the ability to say ‘no’ to all of the things that weren’t building towards our long term goals.
What’s next for you and Common Knowledge in 2025?
Common Knowledge is stabilising after three years of very exciting and rapid growth. We’re pouring our energy into the land we now steward, creating a place that embodies our values. It’s somewhere people can come to learn, to be inspired by the place and by each other, and return home from ready to make change in their own communities and houses.
As for me, I’m always scheming. I’m always on the lookout for the next problem to solve, the next way to reach more people, and to show them that with a little hard work, they are the solution they’ve been waiting for.
Harrison Gardner’s book Build Your Own: Use what you have to create what you need can be purchased in all good bookshops. He also sends out signed copies when purchased via his website harrisongardner.net.
For more information on Common Knowledge see: ourcommonknowledge.org.
Find Harrison Gardner on Instagram here: @_harrisongardner.
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