A few weeks ago I met Isabelle, a member of the Apex workers' co-op in St. Mathieu du Parc. She spoke to me about her ecological home project, a true source of inspiration…

After five years of offering ecological alternatives in house construction across Quebec, in 2005 the Apex co-operative workers decided to start the "leaves to needles" eco-neighbourhood project in their village. This well-thought out initiative allows them to use their know-how to daily live out their passion for the environment and obtain an exceptional quality of life.

The co-operative bought a 100 hectare terrain at St. Mathieu du Lac and took its time defining a vision for the project: creating an entirely ecological neighbourhood, with well-defined norms for those who would live there in the future. The cop-op's members conceived of a complete architectural integration plan, including materials to be used for constructing and isolating homes, planning principles to maximize solar energy use, water recuperation, etc.

But the eco-neighbourhood's beauty is not only in its ecological aspect. Social and community dimensions are an integral part of the project. Besides 60 houses, the co-op is also reserving terrain for community initiatives such as a residence for seniors, a pre-school, a community garden, etc. Since the project was announced in February 2007, 20 landlords have already installed themselves there. They have been arriving from everywhere, even Belgium!

The neighbourhood's popularity is partly due to the co-operative's decision to integrate with the structures already in place at the village and the region. The project's quick completion is owing to citizen initiative, which transformed the village's school into an alternative school in 2005 in order to allow it to reopen. Since then, the number of students has been steadily rising and new families are attracted by the eco-neighbourhood.

With this project, the Apex co-op is successfully revaluing an entire territory and allowing citizens to benefit from it. A success model!