TOWN was pleased to sponsor and take part in the Uk Cohousing Summit in London on 28^th September 2023.

The summit – the first in-person in the UK for six years – was held at Coin Street Neighbourhood Centre, and was attended by a mix of cohousing groups, policymakers, designers, including developers, housing associations and funders. The central theme of the day was around how the cohousing movement might grow, and how some of the key challenges around land and funding might be overcome. Inspiration came from success stories elsewhere – notably from Bridport where a 53-home project was completed in 2022 through an affordable Community Land Trust approach. Cohousing designer and writer Chuck Durrett offered a keynote presentation, drawing on his experience of delivering over 50 developments in the USA.

TOWN Director Jonny Anstead presented on the theme of developer-enabled cohousing, considering how partnerships between developers and future resident groups may hold the potential to facilitate the journey to delivering successful developments, and help to scale up the role of cohousing within the wider housing market, by bringing access to land, funding and through codesign processes between future residents and professional teams. He also looked ahead to TOWN’s forthcoming evaluation report of Marmalade Lane, which will assess the impact of that development on its residents five years after completion.

Frances Wright, TOWN’s Head of Community Partnering, who is also a director of UK Cohousing Network, said:  “It was great to see so many supporters of cohousing together in the same room. There was a real sense of a growing momentum behind cohousing in the UK. I feel optimistic we will be welcoming many more cohousing communities in the coming years.”

A full write-up of the summit can be found on the UK Cohousing website. To find out more about TOWN’s future cohousing developments, and to sign up to find out more about living in one of our communities, then head over to our dedicated page.