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WEEK 10: Self-Build as a form of Community Building

Updated: Nov 27, 2018

I believe that the best way to create and design the physical shared 3ForAll neighbourhood space would be to have a self-build community project. Self-build does not necessarily mean that each of the residents in the area would be doing the construction work, but it would mean that they have a greater sense of control over the design, consultation, decision-making and planning process. Community-led building is an industry that has existed in the UK mostly for community halls and other similar projects, but I believe that this method will enable both a natural growth of 3ForAll, and also a sense of ownership and responsibility within the community for the building.


Community Benefit Society

 

Establishing a Community Benefit Society would be the best way to ensure that the interests of all of the community are taken into consideration for a 3ForAll project. 3ForAll would have representatives in different councils to assist in the process of establishing a community benefit society and the community-led construction process. The difference between community benefit and co-operative societies is that co-ops exist for the benefit of its members, whereas community benefit societies exist for the benefit of the community as a whole.

Supporting Fairness: Community benefit societies also encourage an equal voice to each party regardless of how much they may have invested financially into the project. Each person is only allowed to have one vote for each decision that is being made.


Ensure investment: Having a community benefit society ensures a face is created for the community which can be trusted and is more attractive for investors and others, such as local councils, who may be able to provide access to funding. Through community shares and community benefit societies almost a 120,000 people have invested over £100m to support 350 community businesses throughout the UK. (1) Other investment opportunities include using platforms such as Ethex.


Case Study: Graven Hill

 


The Graven Hill development, is a self-build community that is being established in Bicester. The council have allocated 2,000 plots which people can purchase, design and build their homes. They have provided the roads and access to public amenities. It will be interesting to see how this will develop over time. Although the cost of the plots are quite high (starting from £125,000), it is said that most people will save money comparatively to buying their own (non-custom) house and following either the traditional building route or purchasing a newly-built home. Graven Hill is encouraging people to engage with the project by stating that it is cheaper and you also get a custom-made home. Custom build has been painted as the future of housing, and although this is not a community building, it could be interesting to consider how the future of public buildings could move towards a crowd-funding community led process.


How will it work?

 

Ladywell self-build community project

Oxford City Council have a self-build application form, through their online portal. Although it is targeted to home owners, I'm certain that the planning portal provides opportunities for community-led self-build projects such as the Ladywell self-build community space, which is a community space that has been crowdfunded and supported by a local community group. Walter Segal's self-build methods are also inspirational for understanding an economical and ecological way of designing and building a structure, and I would like to implore some of these principles. There has been growing interest in the rise of self-build projects and I would like to capitalise on this momentum, especially given the context of Oxfordshire. Studying precedents such as this will help to support the case of 3ForAll.


Assemble's exhibition - Model re-imagining Segal's construction method

House in Water's Way, Lewisham

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