communityled.homes

We support people making homes together through Cohousing, Community Land Trusts, and Housing Co-operatives

Brent

Otherwise Living

Otherwise Living is a multistakeholder co-operative with a vision for sustainable urban living to create a healthy, self managed neighbourhood, based in Queens Park.

Their vision is of small private living spaces integrated with large and varied community spaces for many purposes with people of different generations and skills living together. This becomes a place for self-determined living bringing together food, learning, homespaces, smallfunds, wellbeing and workspace.

Otherwise Living aims to create a distinct sense of neighbourhood, which is integrated into the surrounding local area, and explores alternatives to consumerism and over-consumption, while expanding the notions of family, education, community and neighbourhood.

How we’re helping
We will be providing advice on a greater focus on the project scope, finances, and deliverability.

 
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Brent CLT

Affordable housing by the community for the community.

Brent CLT was established in response to the lack of local affordable housing across Brent, when the Harlesden Neighbourhood Forum originally included a commitment to explore community-led housing locally in their Neighbourhood Plan.

A steering group identified a several potential sites in collaboration with Brent Council. After having sites earmarked and withdrawn, a disused block of garages on a busy road was settled upon. The CLT recruited more members and volunteers from across the borough, and developed a functional brief through a series of capacity studies and workshops.

They are looking at a rented scheme aimed at homeless single people and couples, and are looking for more members to join locally and get involved.

The CLT explored modular or pre-fabricated construction to produce an efficient design minimising construction costs. Once the site was formally secured from the council, the CLT selecting a professional team including Bell Philips architects, who submitted a planning application in February 2026.

How we’ve helped
We facilitated meetings on organisational structure and have supported work on project vision and viability over many years. We helped with getting council cabinet approval for the site transfer and terms, and helped to assemble a professional team, and explored modern methods of construction, as the concept was formalised. We also established a relationship with a Housing Association to take on the delivery and management of the scheme post-planning, in line with the considered view of the CLT.

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