The Compass Project
Navigating healthy, sustainable living
What’s on at Compass:
Volunteer sessions:
Join us onsite at Compass, Craigton Road, Aberdeen, AB15 9QD for our next volunteer sessions:
Wednesday afternoons: 1.30pm – 4pm
Thursday mornings: 9.30am – 12noon
Monthly Saturdays:
Saturday 2nd December 2023: 9.30am – 4pm
Register your interest by email or join our Facebook event page.
We look forward to seeing you at the next event!
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Calling all young volunteers!
Sign up to the Saltire Awards and receive recognition of your time onsite with Compass! Find out more on their website.
Have you volunteered at Compass? We’d love to hear from you!
Complete the Volunteer Feedback Form below:
Individual volunteers are also welcome to get in touch as some onsite work can be facilitated on a one-to-one basis outdoors during weekday afternoons. Email us with your availability!
You can also follow us on Facebook!
Thanks to the public voters choosing our project, Compass has secured a fantastic £38,053 to purchase an electric vehicle which will help promote access and distribute produce.
Produce Pop-Ups
Onsite every Thursday: 2pm – 4pm and Friday 10am – 1pm
Freshly harvested, locally-grown organic produce available on a donation basis!
Sign up to the newsletter below to receive the weekly produce list
Keep up to date with the latest news, volunteering opportunities and project development by signing up to our newsletter!
Mental Health Awareness Week: Introduction to Compass
Aberdeen Council of Voluntary Organisations (ACVO) have put together a superb video capturing the Compass project. We hope you enjoy this introduction which was filmed as part of Mental Health Awareness Week, May 2021.
Benefits of volunteering
We spoke to our volunteers onsite to find out more about what volunteering means to them:
Get involved!
If you would like to join us on future onsite days, sign-up as a volunteer by clicking on the green button. There’ll be a wide range of outdoor tasks for you to get stuck into [weather-permitting]!
Thank-you volunteers!
We are delighted that our onsite clear-up days have inspired a number of volunteers to lend a hand. The volunteer hours are already clocking up, helping to transform the site, see the pictures below. There’s always plenty of tasks for more volunteers!
Volunteer Hours
STOP PRESS!
October 2021: Compass was delighted to take part in RGU’s Sustainability in the Creative and Cultural Industries Symposium this October. Watch the presentation here.
August 2021: Read about our circular economy approach in the Aberdeen Council of Voluntary Organisations (ACVO) newsletter.
April 2021: Read the first Compass Project Press Release, published in the Press & Journal on 22.04.21. Explore the 6-page feature on Compass in the ACVO newsletter. We also featured in Aberdeen Business News: 24th April 2021.
Hiring spaces at Compass
While our spaces for hire are being prepared for use, we are inviting interested parties to get in touch with their proposals.
We would love to hear how you see the space at Compass being used.
Email us with your ideas!
Donate to the project!
You can support the project by donating through our
LocalGiving Project page.
All donations no matter how big or small will help bring the Compass project to life. Cheque donations are also welcome.
Directions newsletter
The latest edition of our Compass newsletter is now available to read.
Discover the updates in Issue 32 of Directions or read our earlier editions here!
Onsite progress
Visit our Photo Gallery to follow the progress of our onsite clear-up days and view the latest project videos.
Here’s a few of the latest photos showing our wonderful volunteers transforming the COMPASS site.
No Dig produce
Clearing the slope
Slope cleared!
Polytunnel in place
As we continue to restore this beautiful site and repair the buildings, we need your help.
To join us for future site-clearing events, sign up here.
Please help us prevent further vandalism by reporting any suspicious activity to the Compass Action Group on:
01224 862008 / compass@cwt.scot
Fundraising
We have a lot of fundraising to do so that we can restore and re-purpose the site for the benefit of the local and wider community of Aberdeen.
Phase 1: September 2020 – September 2021
- Tidy outdoor areas with composting and recycling
- Restore paths and steps
- Survey trees and plan scheduled management
- Increase site security to counter crime and vandalism
- Start essential building repairs
- Begin sustainable refurbishment and re-purposing of some buildings
- Set up demonstration garden plots
- Appoint project co-ordinator
- Engage with local community
- Phase 1 Target: £200,000 – ACHIEVED 100%
Total raised so far: £200,000
Phase 2: Stage 1 October 2021 – September 2023
- Progressed refurbishment of the multi-purpose hall with new multi-user access. Opening planned for Jan 2024
- Established therapeutic activities for social prescribing in collaboration with NHS
- Planted over 150 fruit bushes and native tree species
- Expanded no-dig organic garden with 798.5kg harvested to date
- Established three bee colonies and wild flower areas
- Erected polytunnel and two composting toilets for volunteer and participants
- Created temporary volunteer hub
- Hosted corporate and school volunteering groups
- Provided employability skills opportunities including dry-stone walling sessions
- Provided Duke of Edinburgh and Saltire Awards volunteering opportunities
- Expanded Compass team from 1 part-time to 5 full-time staff
- Purchase of electric 8-seater vehicle for food distribution and volunteer / participant transport
- Sustainably recycled over 10 tons of materials / metal
Phase 2: Stage 2 October 2023 – September 2024
- Delivering sustainable refurbishment and re-purposing of nursery and science blocks to create:
- Café and play café
- Extension to current Blue Door charity shop [N. Deeside Road] to support and upcycle larger items
- Zero-waste kitchen for processing onsite produce, education and skills development
- Smokery unit for smoking Camphill and other local produce, education and skills development
- Finalise masterplan for revitalisation across the whole site
To donate or fundraise to help us in Phase 2, click here.
- Phase 2 Target: £1,500,000 61.9%
Total raised so far: £925,382
Phase 3 onwards
Timing and progress in phase 3 onwards will be dependant on funds raised. Staged refurbishment of main building will be a major aim in phase 3 onwards.
- Phase 3 Target: £7 million 0%
About the project
We are excited to announce the launch of COMPASS, a new project to transform the former Waldorf School site into a centre demonstrating practical solutions for healthy, sustainable lifestyles.
The site on Craigton Road, Cults, Aberdeen is owned by Camphill Estates and has been unoccupied since the closure of the Waldorf School in 2014. Keen not to lose the potential of this naturally beautiful & historic site, CWT are taking it on to host COMPASS, with plans to create inclusive spaces that serve and engage the local and wider community of Aberdeen City & Shire.
COMPASS is envisaged as a place where the ethos and practices successfully pioneered for those with learning disabilities by the North-East Camphill organisations will be translated to benefit all who want to improve their health, maintain their wellbeing or explore a more sustainable lifestyle.
The project will showcase:
- sustainable building practices with conservation of the listed main building & sensitive repurposing of the others
- an integrated, creative health & education approach, supported by the natural & built environment
- sustainable social enterprise projects serving the local community and involving those with learning disabilities
- organic/biodynamic land use with nutritious food production, demonstration allotments, bee hives, wild flower meadow and woodland
- repair, reuse & recycle practices minimising waste and encouraging sustainability
Keep up to date with the latest news, volunteering opportunities and project development by signing up to our newsletter!
About the site
The 4.1 acre site occupies an elevated south-facing position with a commanding view across the Dee Valley and the suburb of Cults Aberdeen. Initially developed as the Aberdeen Convalescent Hospital in 1897, it was later used by the International and Waldorf Schools.
The site consists of:
Main building [C-listed]
Aim: to repair and restore in line with its listed status, refurbishing and repurposing internally to provide flexible, usable spaces.
This will eventually form the informational and adminstrative hub for the site with plans for educational rooms, multi-purpose spaces and potentially self-catering accommodation units.
All work will be carried out with sustainability principles in mind.
Multi-Purpose Hall
A large purpose-built space suitable for sports, leisure and cultural activities. Large enough for socially-distanced exercise classes.
Requiring some refurbishment to bring it up to current standards in line with the project’s sustainability ethos.
Previously used by a range of Aberdeen City & Shire sports clubs, COMPASS plans to encourage such use once again to promote community health and wellbeing.
This is likely to be the first building we have up and running as a multi-purpose community hall. We invite inquiries from any interested parties to contact us on compass@cwt.scot
Craft, art and science block
Built around 1987, this two-storey building has bright, south-facing windows.
It contains a suite of medium-sized spaces with potential use for a range of activities such as studios for local artisans, re-use/ recycle/repair facilities, community art, craft or cookery classes.
The space will be refurbished to enable flexible use including our own food smokery facility.
Kindergarten building
Built in 2010, this is the newest building onsite.
Unfortunately due to vandalism, this had been extensively damaged by water ingress.
As a first step, we have repaired the roof and will strip out the interior to allow complete drying with a view to future refurbishment.
As this building is on the level, it would be re-modelled to ensure it is accessible for all.
Primary school building
Situated on the lower part of the site, the single-storey building again offers flexible space which could be transformed for a variety of uses.
Garden and woodland area
The natural environment of the site offers opportunities for:
- growing fruit and vegetables
- demonstration food gardens
- compost production
- bee keeping
- flower growing including wild meadow
In line with Camphill ethos and sustainability practices, the land on the site will be managed according to organic / biodynamic principles. There will be a strong emphasis on using the land to support people’s health and wellbeing.
During Phase 1, we have completed initial tidying up involving local community volunteers and people with learning disabilities from the local Camphill communities. This will continue throughout Phase 2 along with planting produce in a range of no-dig beds.
Professional input has been sought to plan appropriate management of the woodland areas and trees are being managed on an ongoing basis in line with this advice.
About the Camphill Organisations
Camphill began here in the North East with a group of refugees fleeing Nazi Germany in 1940. It pioneered living alongside people with learning disabilities in a home-like setting. From its beginnings here in the North-East, it has grown into a world-wide organisation celebrating its 80th year in 2020. You can find out more about Camphill in Scotland here.
Camphill Estates owns the land and properties used by five of the six local Camphill organisations. It is also a charity.
These are the Camphill organisations on your door-step:
Camphill Wellbeing Trust provides extended medical and therapeutic services to help people of all ages address illness, build resilience and maintain wellbeing.
Beannachar provides a therapeutic and supportive environment for young adults with special needs.
Camphill School Aberdeen provides residential and day services for children and young people with learning disabilities and other special needs.
Newton Dee offers residential and day placements for adults with learning disabilities and other special needs.
Simeon Care is a care home with 23 en-suite bedrooms for older people who can no longer manage in their own home including those with dementia and Parkinson’s.
Tigh a’Chomainn provides home support for adults with learning disabilities and other special needs.
If you are interested to find out about COMPASS, have knowledge or skills that might be helpful or want to volunteer to help us, please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you!