LILAC Housing Cooperative
Welcome It began six years ago when me and a group of friends thought about how we could live in the future. We started to throw around ideas, can we live co-operatively? Can we build places where we genuinely would want to bring up a family? Where we’re not going to feel isolated, that we can afford? LILAC as an entity, as it emerged, we were really committed to building with straw, to being a co-operative and to building a strong community. So these different ideas came together in this lovely word LILAC, which stands for low impact living affordable community. It was a 6 year story of perseverance with loads of twists and turns, making deals, negotiating hard, sticking to our values, building our membership, so much the group has to do to get from idea to delivery. I feel that the concept of LILAC is something very simple, very ancient, but very pioneering. LILAC is a fascinating model for a new, more equitable and ecological approach to providing affordable housing, built in response to three keys issues: the financial crisis, the threat of global warming and the breakdown of local community. These are all problems that are known to the world as being issues as a result of our ongoing and persistent consumer lifestyle. I and others feel that it is time to take responsibility, by creating a sustainable lifestyle, that has little to no impact on the world, and to do all of this in an equal way for all. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who helped me and my friends achieve this dream, and I hope that LILAC is the first choice for like-minded individuals, families and all people who feel that it is time to care of the world around us. Many Thanks
Paul Chatterton, Co-Founder
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What is an Eco-Village? Eco-villages are urban or rural communities of people, who strive to integrate a supportive social environment with a low-impact way of life. To achieve this, they integrate various aspects of ecological design, permaculture, ecological building, green production, alternative energy, community building practices, and much more.
What is Co-Housing? Co-housing is a way of living which brings individuals and families together in groups to share common aims and activities while also enjoying their own self-contained accommodation and personal space. The main features are that they are run by their members, committed to living as a community, designed to encourage social contact and include common space. Co-housing balances people’s need for privacy with their desire to live in a more community-focused way.
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LILAC:The Concept
Low Impact Living ‘Low impact living’ means to live as lightly as possible on the earth. Reducing our impact on the wider environment has become an urgent task in the face of climate change. Residential and non-domestic buildings account for around 45% of C02 emissions in the UK. The UK government set a target for all new buildings to be carbon neutral by 2019. LILAC is aiming to make each home carbon negative: able to return to the national grid as much power (and more) as it uses over the course of a year. How does LILAC do this? First, we have used locally sourced building materials. The walls of our houses are made from super-insulated straw bale and timber panels, pre-fabricated in Modcell’s local ‘Flying Factory’. In contrast to a conventionally built home which produces around 50 tonnes of CO2 during its construction, a home built using straw bale as insulation can actually store 12.25 tonnes of CO2. Secondly, the buildings use ‘passive solar’ design, which means that the insulating materials and design of the buildings combine to store solar heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer, thus reducing the need to input heating energy. Thirdly, LILAC residents will work together to consider the environmental impact of their daily activities, for instance through car sharing; pooling resources and tools; and looking to the local area to provide as many needs as possible. Growing food on their own allotments means they eat as locally as physically possible.
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LILAC:The Concept
Affordable There is a crisis in affordable housing in this country. House prices are still much higher than average earnings. In 2010 the house price to income ratio in the UK was 4.44 (average annual earnings £57,996 and average house prices £251,634). LILAC is responding to this situation through adopting a ‘mutual home ownership scheme’ (MHOS). An MHOS is a new way of owning a stake in the housing market. It is designed to bring the bottom rung of the property ladder back within reach of households on modest incomes in areas where they are priced out of the housing market. It is designed to remain permanently affordable for future generations. Members of the society are the residents who live in the homes it provides. The society and not the individuals obtain the mortgage and so borrowing is cheaper. How does it work? Each member has a lease which gives them the right to democratically control the housing community they live in. Under the terms of the lease, members pay an equity share to the co-operative and retain equity in the scheme. After deductions for maintenance, insurance etc, these payments pay the mortgage. The payment that leaseholders pay each month and the number of equity shares they hold depends on how much they earn. Monthly payments are set at around 35% of net income. As members leave, existing members can buy more equity shares, and as people’s income levels change their equity share commitments can also change. If someone leaves sooner than three years then they will not be entitled to increases in the value of their equity shares. The company keeps a set percentage of any increase in equity to ensure the sustainability of the project. 5
LILAC:The Concept
Community LILAC isn’t just about building houses, it’s about building community. We want all residents to feel they are part of a strong, flourishing neighborhood where they can directly participate and where their views matter. The design of our site is intended to build community life. It is based around the Danish co-housing model: mixing people’s needs for their own space in private homes with shared facilities and encouraging social interaction. Our green spaces – allotments, pond, a shared garden and a children’s play area – are also important to community interaction.
Safe Play Areas
Pond with Decking
The common house is at the heart of the community, and includes communal cooking and eating facilities, laundry facilities, meeting space, play area, office and guest rooms. This building will be occasionally open to the wider community for events and access to facilities. For the residents it provides opportunities for weekly shared cooking and eating, social events
Communal Dinning Area
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ModCell We built the houses using ModCell, a company which has developed a low-carbon modern method of construction with straw and timber using super-insulated, prefabricated wall panels. Strawbale offers great insulation values, it’s a high-insulating product to use for building low carbon buildings. Straw and timber and lime are the three products which the houses are built from. Three naturally carbon sequestering products. So in its use, tonnes and tonnes of carbon is locked up into the home, rather than bricks and blocks of cement which takes tonnes and tonnes of energy and CO2, pumps that CO2 into the atmosphere to create. So we’re on the carbon negative side rather than carbon positive.
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Site Plan The LILAC site plan, showing over 20 units with the common house in the center.
Common House 8
Housing- Floor Plans We worked with architects White Design Associates and built the houses from timber and straw using the ModCell system. In total there are six 1-bed, six 2-bed, six 3-bed and two 4-bed houses. Typical floor plans are as shown:
1 Bed Floor Plan (Second Floor Apartment) Ideal for Individuals and Couples
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2 Bed Floor Plan (Second Floor Apartment) Ideal for Couples and Small Families
3 Bed Floor Plan (Second Floor Apartment) Ideal for Families
4 Bed Floor Plan (House) Ideal for Larger Families
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About the Area Lilac is situated in the Victoria Park area of Bramley/ Kirkstall. This area connects with fascinating and diverse parts of Leeds and some great established communities in all directions. It offers access to both urban and green space and is fantastically well connected to take advantage of sustainable transport options. The site has faces south down the Aire valley looking out towards Raynville Road and then up towards the Wyther Park estate which rises steeply towards the main LeedsBradford dual carriageway. The surrounding estates have had some bad press historically but there is now a strong and vibrant community and plenty of neighborliness, as well as developments of quality new townhouses and very active community groups, led by the Wyther Park Improvement Group.
Hollybush Farm
To the east, the land also falls away quickly down towards the river, canal and train line, passing the Bridge Inn pub and the newly converted student halls of residence at Kirkstall Brewery. From the river, there is excellent access to the newly tarmac-ed cycle path which leads directly to the city center in 20 minutes, as well as regular buses to the city center. Across the A65, there is excellent access to Kirkstall Leisure Centre, supermarkets and great walks in the stunning Kirkstall Abbey and beyond up the beautiful Aire valley to Rodley Nature Reserve into surprisingly open countryside. If the Kirkstall Forge development progresses there should be a new train station constructed on the electrified Leeds-Skipton line. And up the other side of the Aire valley the main shops, pubs and cafÊs in Headingly are within walking distance. To the north lies the Broadlea’s area which is another post-war council estate. The estate is improving with new housing, active community groups, and a new school. Finally to the west lies Bramley shopping center and, over the hill, Bramley train station.
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Kirkstall Brewery
Transport
Less than three minutes walk from the site are regular buses to the city center (four miles away), Pudsey, Morley, Headingly, Meanwood and many other places. Bramley and Headingly train stations are both less than a mile away. This provides direct trains to Leeds, Harrogate, York, Bradford, Halifax, Manchester, Selby, Wakefield and other places in between. The nearby canal towpath provides a direct, traffic free cycle and pedestrian route into the city center. The A65 and A647 close by mean there are good road links to the city center, Bradford, Ilkley, the ring road, motorways and beyond.
Schools (Primary and Secondary) Hollybush Primary Raynville Primary Christ The King Primary Whitecote Primary Intake High School Arts College Swallow Hill Community College Abbey Grange High School Leeds West Academy
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How To Find Us LILAC Housing Cooperative Lilac Grove Victoria Park Avenue Leeds LS5 3AG
Telephone 0113 211 4626 Email info@lilac.coop Or For More Information Visit Us At www.lilac.coop