We are a small group of mixed households, currently 7 adults and 6 children overall, developing a small cohousing project in Stoke Newington, North London. We came together by chance (or destiny, depending on how you look at it!) when two members, after looking around for almost 2 years, had found a rare opportunity to purchase a disused, 1000 sq. m. backland site within their local residential area, and asked others to join them to be able to co-create their dream of building a community in urban London.
The current group formed over a period of 12 months (meeting almost every Sunday) and were fortunate enough to be able to collectively purchase the site in September 2009, We are now working with local architects to develop a scheme for the project. Our hope is to build a modest but architecturally innovative set of buildings that embrace cohousing principles within an urban context and make use of properly sustainable approaches to construction, energy use, transport, and land management, maximizing shared resources, such as laundry facilities, where practicable and affordable. A 70-100 sq. m. shared communal space is at the heart of our ambitions for the scheme, which we hope will be able to host a range of activities. Communal gardens and organic vegetable growing space are also core aspects of the project. Working on a tight urban site surrounded by residential homes provides a set of challenges not typically found in many other cohousing schemes, but we are working hard to create something elegant and compact that can integrate sensitively into the existing neighbourhood.
We are constituted as a company limited by guarantee and operate consensus decision-making procedures in all aspects of the project - something made easier by being a relatively small group. We were able to purchase the land outright using existing funds or additional mortgage borrowing and are exploring options to finance the construction, either through a company loan or individual mortgages. We come from a variety of cultural and professional backgrounds, from designer to artist to psychotherapist, and have not adopted any particular philosophy, beyond the basic principles of cohousing and a wish to work democratically and considerately.
SGCG is not currently taking on new members, though this may change in the future. We welcome contact with other cohousing projects or those considering starting up, especially within urban settings, as we feel that exploring different ways of living within cities is increasingly important.
The group's website is under development and a link will be posted here when it goes live.
To contact SGCG, please email Giovanna Mabanta at gioi...@gmail.com (click on 3 blue dots to get full email.)
