Jonny Anstead (TOWN, developer of Marmalade Lane Cohousing in Cambridge) on cohousing design & planning. Part of a workshop on planning and design for community-led housing, organised by Brighton & Hove Community Land Trust on Tuesday 19 June 2018. See the video here: http://bhclt.org.uk/planning-design-video/

1. PLANNING FOR COMMUNITY-LED
19TH JUNE 2018.
HOUSING.
MARMALADE LANE, CAMBRIDGE.

2. TOWN.
Homes. Streets. Neighbourhoods.

3. THE UK IS FACING A HOUSING CRISIS.
AVERAGE HOUSE PRICES 7x AVERAGE INCOME.
200,000 HOMES NEEDED ANNUALLY TO
SUPPLY NEW DEMAND.

4. ONLY ONE IN FIVE PEOPLE WOULD
PREFER TO BUY A NEW-BUILD HOME.
ONE IN THREE WOULDN’T CONSIDER BUYING
NEW-BUILD, OR WOULD ONLY DO SO AS A
LAST RESORT

5. ONLY ONE IN FIVE PEOPLE WOULDOLDER HOMES OFFER GREATER SPACE,
CHARACTER, GREENNESS AND SENSE
OF COMMUNITY..
.. BUT ARE MORE EXPENSIVE TO MAINTAIN,
(AND THERE’S A LIMITED SUPPLY!)

6. 27% OF PEOPLE IN THE UK
ASPIRE TO BUILD THEIR
OWN HOME..
.. BUT ACCESS TO LAND AND FINANCE MAKE
SELF-BUILD AN IMPOSSIBLE DREAM FOR
MOST.
IS SELF-BUILD THE ANSWER?

7. Architect
designed house
NEW BUILD
PERIOD HOUSINGSELF BUILD
Design cost and
construction risk
Finance it yourself
Find your own land
Draughty and
costly to heat
High Maintenance
Choose layout
and appearance
Personalised
Pick your plot
Generous
proportions
Big windows,
High ceilings
Cellular or
‘Knocked
through’
Built to last
Ease of purchase
Land included
Well-insulated
Meets modern building regs
Fully financed
Limited choice
of options
No architectural
distinction
Estate not neighbourhood
Sense of place
TOWN CUSTOM BUILD.

8. TOWN PRINCIPLES.
WALKABLE
NEIGHBOURHOODS.
INTELLIGENT
INFRASTRUCTURE.
TRANSPORT CHOICE.
STREETS & SQUARES. LANDSCAPE, PLAY,
ECOLOGY.
SMART DENSITY.
VALUE-ENHANCING
AMENITY.
SENSE OF PLACE.

10. TRIVSELHUS.
A leading Swedish house building company.

11. TRIVSELHUS.
A leading Swedish house building company.

12. ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE.
Engineered performance, lower energy bills.

13. BACKGROUND TO THE PROJECT

15. LOCATION.
K1 - one of the last development parcels in Orchard Park.

16. ASPIRATIONS & APPROACH.
An outcome-led approach.
CCC ASPIRATIONS
• Innovation
• High-quality design
• High environmental performance
• More imaginative layout
• Community-led housing model
• Capital receipt
APPROACH
An enabled cohousing scheme
where the Council can work with
a cohousing group to develop a
scheme and design brief and
then sell the site to an enabling
development partner
AN OPPPORTUNITY FROM ADVERSITY.
• The site was owned by Cambridge City Council
• Outline planning consent for 37 market homes
• Market crash prevented a private sale in 2008
• CCC saw opportunity for a more creative approach
AN ENABLED APPROACH.

17. OVERVIEW & SOME KEY CHALLENGES

18. CHALLENGE 1:
RESIDENTS AT THE HEART OF THE PROCESS

20. • A fundamental change in approach and process among the
developer and professional team
• This is NOT how housing professionals are used to working!
• It also required a different approach from the planning officers

21. A CODESIGNED DEVELOPMENT.
A collaborative design process.
ENVIRONMENTAL
PERFORMANCE
COMMON
HOUSE
DESIGN
HOUSING
DESIGN
OUTDOOR
SPACE
DEVELOPER
WORKING
GROUP
TOWN
WIDER MEMBERSHIP
PURCHASE
PROCESS
CUSTOMISATION
WORKSTREAMS.

22. CHALLENGE 2:
RETHINKING PUBLIC & PRIVATE SPACE

26. COMMON HOUSE: GATEWAY.
• Dining room and shared kitchen
• Laundry facilities
• Children’s playroom
• Shared sitting room with wood burner
• Flexible meeting spaces
• Storage
• Workshop
• Guest rooms for hire
COMMON HOUSE.

27. SHARED GARDEN.
• Raised beds and polytunnel for food
growing
• Children’s play space
• Relaxation and nature areas
• Sun terrace
• Tool shed
• Composting and propagation area

28. • Far greater emphasis on useful, productive shared spaces
• (Slightly) smaller dwellings and gardens
• Unfamiliar territory for developers and planners used to dealing with
more typical suburban housing developments

29. CHALLENGE 3:
RETHINKING THE PLACE OF THE PRIVATE CAR

30. • Planning policy required 2 spaces per dwelling plus visitor parking
• Actual car ownership in the group was far lower
• Agreed 1 space per dwelling plus visitor parking
• Cohousing group will own / manage shared cars

32. CHALLENGE 4:
DRIVING DIVERSITY (AND DENSITY)

33. SOME LESSONS LEARNT.

34. A
5.2m wide
house
B
6m wide
house
C
7.8m wide
flat pair
D
Apartment
building
Four ‘shell’ dwelling types.
732 permutations.

35. Custom choice.
Type B: from an 89sqm 2-bedroom to a 121sqm 5-bedroom house.
GROUND FLOOR
FIRST FLOOR
SECOND FLOOR
Open plan Enclosed stair
Two bedrooms Three bedrooms
Storage loft Master bed Bed + en suite Bed + Two beds

37. A RANGE OF TYPES AND SIZES.
A home for everyone.
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
£ ££ £££
m2

38. EXTERNAL VARIETY.
Streets configured by their residents.

39. • 42 dwellings per hectare (gross)
• 60 dwellings per hectare (net)
• Higher than prevailing densities in similar edge / suburban locations
• Far more mixed than usual ‘housing estate’ model

40. CHALLENGE 5:
BALANCING CHOICE AND CERTAINTY

41. CUSTOMISATION PROCESS.

42. EXTERNAL VARIETY.
Streets configured by their residents.

43. • Customer choice is at the heart of community led approaches
• Not all choices can (or need to be made at planning stage)
• Our approach was to keep open as much choice to customers as
possible
• Planning authority required 100% certainty in terms of external
decisions
• This limited the choices we were able to give to later members

44. EXTERNAL VARIETY.
Streets configured by their residents.

45. CHALLENGE 6:
THINKING BEYOND STATUTORY AFFORDABILTY
REQUIREMENTS

46. • Outline consent was for 36 market dwellings
• Increased to 42 at detailed planning – generating an affordable
housing requirement of 2 units
• Pricing to cohousing members has reflected the length of their
commitment
• £1 million total reduction in prices to purchasers (up to 10%)
• Self-finish options gave further affordability

47. JONNY@WEARETOWN.CO.UK