PROPERTY OF THE MONTH The cohousing project
No ordinary building, this contemporary block of flats is home to four families who pooled their resources to each create an affordable, ecofriendly, custom-made home. Meet the exciting new face of cohousing...
Architect John Kinsley describes his conversion to ‘collective custom-build’ as a light bulb moment. Having come across an article highlighting the merits of community self-build projects in South America, he immediately knew he wanted to do the same. And he had the perfect site in mind – a lot in the Edinburgh suburb of Portobello, just a street away from the Georgian home he shared with his wife Jenny, a garden designer, and their two sons.
The empty 400-square-metre space was once home to a cinema and had development potential. John struck a deal with the owner to buy the plot for £250,000, dependent on obtaining detailed planning consent for a four-storey block, to be clad in red sandstone, translucent Reglit glass panelling and French zinc.
John loved the idea of bringing together a group of like-minded people with a common aim: to live in a well-designed, ecofriendly, contemporary building, but without the high cost and lack of control that typically come with a big developer.
In the beginning, the couple spread the word via a local website and held a meeting to find others who were interested.‘We explained that our method had the potential to eliminate the developer’s profit, meaning we could build at cost – around 20 per cent less,’ John says. Development and land prices of £1.2 million were shared proportionately between all four apartments, according to square footage. Before they set out, the shareholders drew up legal
agreements giving them each ownership of their own apartment. In time, the properties can be sold in the standard way and purchased with mainstream residential mortgages. And John and Jenny, who bought and now live in the top-floor flat, are keen to stress that collective custom build, where people pool resources to build together, is nothing like the stereotype of a ‘hippy commune’ where everyone hangs out together.
After work started in 2016, and once the contractor had completed the external load-bearing walls and internal stairway, each owner was left with a large open-plan space, allowing them to create their own bespoke layout using stud walls. John encouraged his fellow residents – who include a painter and decorator, a musician and a graphic designer – to choose their own kitchens and bathrooms and decorate as they wished.
While the Bath Street Collective takes some inspiration from traditional Scottish tenement buildings, John and Jenny’s threebedroom apartment has a modern approach to design – and amazing sea views. There’s an open-plan living, dining and kitchen area, with a worktop made from a beautiful collection of sea glass, designed by Jenny. A staircase from the in-built workstation – the couple made much of the plywood furniture themselves – leads up to the roof garden and doubles as a bookcase.
The walls are a combination of matt white and exposed environmentally friendly cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels, creating a look that’s both cutting-edge and cosy. And the Passivhaus-standard energy efficiency provides an ambient temperature throughout, with no need for central heating.
John is now designing a four-apartment collective custom-build scheme at Leith in Edinburgh and is looking at further sites in other locations. To find out more, contact johnkinsleyarchitects.co.uk.
MORE ABOUT COHOUSING
There are outstanding examples of cohousing in France and Austria, but Germany usually takes the credit for inventing Baugruppen in the 1990s, which literally translates as ‘building group’.
Typically, a party will get together and ask an architect to design a living space to suit their particular needs. Usually built in the form of apartments, especially in cities, these schemes often include social spaces such as gardens and communal areas designed to promote social inclusion and interaction. At the Baugruppe Spreefeld in Berlin, for instance, there are shared playrooms, an office space, terraces and a teenagers’ club.
Here in the UK, there are now about 20 cohousing communities, according to the UK Cohousing Network, with a further 60-plus groups currently developing projects. Most are mixed, including homes for single people, couples and families, but some are specifically for the over-50s or those with a common interest, such as women-only. They include:
• Broadhempston Community Land Trust, near Newton Abbot in Devon, where six families pooled their labour to build their own homes, using a loan from Resonance, a Bristol-based social impact investment company (broadhempstonclt.com).
• Lilac in Leeds, West Yorkshire, which allows each member of the 20-strong eco-build community their own stake through what’s known as a Mutual Home Ownership Scheme (MHOS) (lilac.coop).
• Marmalade Lane, Cambridge’s first cohousing community of 42 multi-generation, multi-national residents who own their own homes but share communal facilities including gardens, a workshop and car-free ‘play streets’ (marmaladelane.co.uk ).