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It’s Open House this weekend and there are some great community led housing projects opening their doors to the public.  As the world’s largest architecture festival, over 800 buildings will be open as well as walks, talks and tours. Here are our choices for the weekend:

Marklake Court
September 22 – 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
A new community-led development of council rent homes shows how allowing residents to take a lead can provide new housing on existing estates and result in positive outcomes for all. Supported by igloo Community Builders, Leathermarket Community Benefit Society (CBS) identified an underused garage site on the Kipling Estate, Southwark and have developed 27 affordable homes. The project was designed by Bell Phillips Architects who worked closely with Leathermarket CBS from the outset to co-develop proposals.
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Hazelhurst Court
Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th  – book a tour for 4:00 pm
An award-winning development by Phoenix Community Housing of 60 extra care apartments for older people. With funding from the Mayor of London and Lewisham Council, the homes are for affordable rent and built next to Phoenix’s existing properties. Phoenix Community Housing is a not-for-profit resident-led housing association based in South London. They own and manage more than 6,000 homes in Lewisham and are now starting to build their first new homes.
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Walter Segal Self Build Homes
Sunday 23rd September – 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
A close of thirteen self-build homes in Lewisham by architect Walter Segal. This council-run housing scheme was the first of it’s kind in the UK and saw a group of residents build their own homes on a derelict site in Lewisham. Open house is a great opportunity to look around the homes and there will be a short documentary viewing.
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We had a great response to our first call for Advice and Feasibility fund applications from community groups across London. The applications went to our panel and we’re pleased to announce we have awarded the first round of funding to three groups.

• We’re supporting Featherstone Cohousing in their bid to purchase Featherstone Lodge in Forest Hill. They are currently in negotiation to buy the large lodge to convert it into a cohousing development of 10 flats for the 22 members of their group.
• We’re supporting Sanford Housing Co-op to expand and build new housing on their own site at Sandford Walk and look into potential sites nearby. Sanford are the UK’s oldest purpose built coop. Along Sanford Walk in Lewisham there are 14 houses with 8-10 residents in each; members are allocated a bedroom and share a kitchen and living space. There are also 6 self-contained flats.
• We’re supporting Forest CLT who are a group of individuals and families looking to develop affordable housing in Waltham Forest and grow their membership.

Our team of advisers will be working with London Older Lesbian Cohousing, Arcadia Co-housing and a new emerging group in Kentish Town, to help facilitate thinking around their organisation structures and their next steps.

The innovative affordable community-led self-build housing project in Ladywell was given planning permission unanimously. Construction is expected to begin by the new year. Read the press release here

We are looking for Associate Community-led Housing Advisers who can help guide, mentor, and support groups and schemes, from an early stage. They should encourage community groups to think openly and clearly about their objectives and how to achieve them, and be able to pass on a broad knowledge of housing development, delivery and management.

Download the Call for Interest for more detail on the role and to submit an Expression of Interest.

We are also keen to hear to hear from consultants including surveyors, development managers, architects, planning consultants, project managers, financial advisers, solicitors, facilitators etc.

Community Led Housing London is now swinging into action, ready to support you to deliver your projects across London.

Community Led Housing London get-together
City Hall
Wednesday 2 May
4:00 – 5:30pm

 RSVP here

 Join us, other community led housing groups, associates and our community led housing partners to get the latest news on the funds and programmes your project could be benefiting from and how the Hub can provide you with specialist advice tailored to your needs.

More details on this special Community Led Housing get-together:

Meet our new Project Director!

We are delighted to announce that Levent Kerimol has joined the Hub as Project Director. Lev joins us from the Greater London Authority and has a huge amount of knowledge on London’s regeneration landscape and the ways in which community led housing can thrive in the city.

Find out more about the Hub’s vision
Hear the latest updates from the community led housing sector
Meet other groups and expand your network

Plus, we’d like to spruce our website up with some of your lovely images! Group shots, a community led housing event you’ve hosted, photos and images of your scheme. You name it, if it’s linked to community led housing, we’d love to use it on our site. There will be awards at the event for the best images.

SEND US YOUR IMAGES HERE!

Tickets to this event are limited. For more information on the schedule and to reserve your ticket, click here.