The Older Women’s Cohousing (OWCH) New Ground Housing scheme is a group custom build project created by 20 women varying in age from their mid-fifties upwards. Founded on the principles of community living, the group have worked with Pollard Thomas Edwards Architects to design 26 apartments with communal facilities and a shared garden in outer London. Planning was granted in April 2013.
Church Grove
Community land trust Rural Urban Synthesis Society (RUSS) has successfully bid for the Church Grove site, a community self and custom build site of 30 homes. Applications for self-builders to join the community custom build group are now open – see Apply For A Home.
Status at March 2015
Potential for 30 new self or custom build homes on the site of a former school in Ladywell, being put forward by Lewisham Council. The Council is looking for a community-led partner organisation to work with residents who want to build their own home, which is currently undergoing enabling developer procurement, due to close at the end of 2015. Council officers have been working with self-build facilitators, Our London, to understand the views of interested residents, understand technical site constraints, and devise a selection process for community-led self-build enablers.
For more visist [http://www.churchgrove.info/index.html] or Lewisham Council at [www.lewisham.gov.uk]
Copper Lane
A project of six homes brought on by its residents under their own development company, Springfield Gardens Group. With a shared vision for how to live, the group commissioned architects Henley Halebrown Rorrison (HHbR) for a set of six houses with green measures and shared social spaces. The build contractors were Sandwood Design & Build.
To get an insight into the resident’s experiences with the site, click here.
Credit: Ioana Marinescu
Blenheim Grove
Inhabit Home’s Blenheim Grove flagship scheme for five contemporary custom built homes designed by Poulsom Middlehurst. Internal floor layouts vary between 92m2 to 170m2, with the sustainable homes all having a roof terrace and bike store.