Permaculture design course

This course looks at how we can design resilient, abundant human ‘ecosystems’, working collaboratively to care for the planet, each other and ourselves.

Course Content

This course builds on our Introduction to permaculture course, giving you the skills to get started in permaculture design. It is certified by the Permaculture Association of Britain.

Permaculture gives you design tools for planning and implementing garden, home, work and community projects that look after the earth and people.

Our Permaculture design course (Building sustainable communities) is an interactive and practical course including sessions on:

• Ethics and principles of permaculture
• Design process and methodology
• Soil management and conservation
• Trees and woodland management
• Cultivated ecology: gardens and farms
• Effective group work and community living
• Real wealth, money and sustainable exchange
• Urban challenges and urban permaculture
• Energy conservation and renewable energy

Course schedule

The course runs from Saturday 31 October 2026 to the weekend of 13–14 March 2027.
Sessions will take place at our Lewes venue unless otherwise stated.

Course work

In addition to the scheduled sessions you will need to allow:

• Up to 90 minutes to complete activities at home in the week leading up to each session
• At least twelve hours on your design project

Towards the end of the course, the design project becomes a rewarding focus, with many participants choosing to invest extra time (beyond our suggested 12 hours) in work that feels meaningful and inspiring to them.

We will be sending you some resources to look at and activities to complete in your own time before each class. In the classroom sessions tutors will review and build on this work. The course is very interactive including time for questions, discussions and design activities in small groups.

Who is this course for?

The course is for anyone who is concerned with the environmental and social challenges around them and wants to develop positive solutions. Whereas some permaculture courses are intensive, this one is spread over several months to enable people to integrate permaculture design into many areas of their lives, including food growing, home renovation and livelihoods.

This is valuable for anyone wishing to add a permaculture perspective to their existing skills, and to community workers, teachers, architects, planners, landscapers, foresters, food growers, gardeners, designers, agriculturists and conservationists.

Our courses are open to anyone aged 16 or over.

Accreditation

The course is accredited by the Permaculture Association of Britain.

To be awarded the certificate, you must attend at least 10 days of the course and complete the design project, including attending the final two days of the course.

Please don’t register if you cannot meet these requirements.

Why do we teach this course?

We want to increase the number of people taking inspiration from nature to design ethical systems. Together we can accelerate regeneration and meet humanity’s needs, whilst benefiting life on Earth in all its forms.

Once you’ve gained the Permaculture Design Certificate you’ll be able to start using permaculture design in your life and work. You will be invited to join Brighton Permaculture Trust’s network of volunteers and encouraged to get involved in Brighton Permaculture Trust activities and those of other related networks.

Students often start their own projects and invite each other to get involved in those. To further your learning or professional development you could go on to work towards a Diploma in Permaculture Design, a largely self-directed action learning process of at least two years.

You could also choose to become an apprentice permaculture teacher, or further your knowledge with more specialist permaculture courses.

Course Tutors

Course fees explained

Our fees are worked out on a fair share basis, to make sure we cover costs and make courses as accessible as possible.