LILAC an "Eco-friendly paradise" says the Yorkshire Evening Post

The Yorkshire Evening Post has published an article on the LILAC Co-housing project. See bellow for extracts of the article or click here to read the full article

"Fed up with living in a ‘soulless’ community, residents in Bramley have created what they hope is a little piece of paradise. Neil Hudson spoke to them about the lilac scheme now it is a reality.

This week sees the official opening of the UK’s first mutual co-operative housing development. If you are unsure what that means, then think of a co-operative but with less of the ‘commune’.

The Lilac development off Victoria Park Avenue, Bramley, Leeds, is a departure from the norm when it comes to new housing developments. Lilac stands for Low Impact Living Affordable Accommodation.

Made from (ModCell) straw bales and timber, it has taken around five years to realise.

It is home to 33 adults and nine children and while each family has their own ample living space, they also enjoy a number of shared facilities, including a communal hall, where dinner is served twice a week and a laundrette.

Lilac is, to all intents and purposes, a stab at utopian living. It’s trying to have the best of both worlds - the best parts of living in a commune, such as neighbours who care, growing your own food and so on and the best of living privately, as each family home or flat has its own space.

Father-of-two Alan Thornton, 40, a charity worker who grew up in the area, was one of the people who helped thrash out the original idea.

He said: “It’s taken five years to get to this point but we have been very lucky in terms of being able to get the land we wanted and the planning permission.

“The development is unique in that, as far as we know, it’s the first three-storey straw bale construction in the UK. It is modelling on a co-operative housing model with some shared facilities - there is a communal building where we offer two optional shared meals a week.

“I suppose one of the original ideas a desire to live next to people who care. I used to living in a typical terraced house but like many people my neighbours weren’t that neighbourly.

“This is the opposite of the Lilac development, where everyone knows everyone else.

“There are 20 houses for 33 adults and nine children - it’s brilliant for the children, not just because of the amount of free space they have but also because of the fact there are so many people to look out for them.

“It really is lovely living here and if truth be told thinking about it is sometimes a little bit overwhelming. It has been an amazing journey.”

“The space available here is amazing but more than that, I think it’s the sense of community which really makes a difference to people’s lives.

“Everything is done by consensus, including deciding who lives here. We actually have a growing waiting list of people who would like to live here.”

In addition to that they have also had a good deal of interest from councils and even the Welsh Government, which sent officials on a fact-finding visit.

The scheme comprises six one-bed flats and six two-bed flats, together with six three-bed houses and two four-bed houses, not including the communal facilities, which also include 30 allotments.

Due to the building materials used and the fact the houses are fitted with solar panels, heating costs are significantly lower than you might expect.

“I pay about £15 a quarter for my gas and electric,” says Alan, who also helped build his house. And he thinks it’s a model which could be taken up by others.

“We’re always getting people coming down to ask us about the scheme and I think it’s something which could be taken up and done in other places and we’d be more than happy to help or advise people on how to do that.”

The Homes and Communities Agency, which part-funded a grant to help Lilac clear the former school site readyfor development, said the scheme was a “model for the future”.

Part of the three-storey straw bale houses, which are also believed to be the tallest of their kind in the UK, were constructed in a ‘pop-up’ warehouse (Flying FactoryTM ) in Dewsbury by a company (ModCell) which specialises in straw bale construction.

Leeds City Council has welcomed the project. Councillor Peter Gruen, Leeds City Council executive board member for neighbourhoods and housing said: “It is fantastic to see this kind of project starting in Leeds. It is something totally different, and a project that will inspire others to be involved in similar ideas.”

Extracts courtesy of the Yorkshire Evening Post

Please note - text in brackets added by ModCell