AS ENERGY costs continue to soar, the people behind Ireland's first ecovillage believe their initiative will soon be replicated all over the country.

And not just for economic reasons - the village, under construction in Cloughjordan, north Tipperary, is fundamentally focused on establishing a sense of community and a high quality of life for its inhabitants. "We're taking a body, mind and soul approach to life, " says Greg Allen, one of the key figures in establishing the new venture. "How many of us, when we sit back and think about it, have the quality of life we imagined?"

The infrastructure phase of the eco-village recently got underway. A glance out the organisers' office windows shows a 67-acre area resembling a building site. Bulldozers are busy laying pipes, water and sewerage systems. When the contractors are finished by the end of the year, families and individuals who have purchased one of the 130 sites can begin to construct their homes. But they can't build any old house. All involved have signed up to the community eco-charter and must follow environmentally-friendly guidelines for building their properties and life at the village. Low-impact materials such as timber-frame and straw bale are favoured over concrete and block.

The ethos behind the eco-village is simple - enhance the community of Cloughjordan (one of the country's many declining rural villages) and create a sustainable community that doesn't cost the earth, literally and figuratively. It's pitched as an alternative to 'existing' in one of the country's many sprawling housing estates, where no one knows their neighbours and residents commute for hours daily before finally retiring on a sub-standard pension. Many families who have bought a site at the village are coming from such living situations.

The eco-village has been split into three zones of equal size for residential, agricultural and natural spaces, consisting of woodland and farmland.

Some plots are still available for sale and each site comes with an allotment for vegetable growing and keeping chickens and other livestock, if desired.

But if you plump to move to the eco-village, what about your job? "One of the reasons we chose Cloughjordan is because it has a train station and it's 12km from Nenagh, Roscrea and Birr, " says Allen. "People may decide to work in other fields and take a pay cut but their standard of living here will be less expensive overall. The aspiration is that job opportunities will also be created here. Effectively, what we're trying to do is create employment and have all our other needs met in a bio-region of a 30-mile radius. Ultimately, it's about reducing dependency on cars, goods and services."

There are plans for a bakery, health-food store, library, education centre, market square, conference centres and community buildings. Broadband will be available at the village, making working from home a possibility for some. The trading of goods and services is also on the cards when the first residents move in next summer, while the original currency of the village - the Clough penny - is to be resurrected.

"In this village in the 1800s, they had their own pennies and people were paid for goods and services in this currency, " Allen explains. "We won't be using tangible pennies but we want to reintroduce it in the form of an 'IOU' for trading goods and services. It's to try and keep business local."

Those buying plots at the village come from all walks of life. Annmarie Nugent is a librarian, previously working in Limerick, while Una Roantree is a psychotherapist from Dublin. Gear�id �Foighil works for the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Allen himself previously managed an organic food store in Dublin.

While they await the construction of their new homes, many families are already living in Cloughjordan. "At first, the locals here were naturally wary of us and thought we were odd people with odd ideas, " says Nugent. "But now we've gotten to know everyone and integrated well.

We're trying to enhance their community, not create a new one. We're all perfectly normal people. We're just a bit more worried about the environment than most."

The average cost of buying a site and building a house at the eco-village is Euro150,000, paid off in phases. This includes part-ownership of the 67acre site and full use of amenities as well as a say in life at the village. Along with solar panels, a district heating system will fuel heating and hot-water requirements. Further down the line, natural energy in the form of wind turbines is expected to replace electricity.

Of course, not all of the project has been plain sailing, and the village has had its fair share of problems in relation to land zoning and affordable housing. "In the end, what we're trying to do comes down to community, " says Allen. "We're challenging perceptions of what a house and a home is. They are not just commodities."