‘LILAC’ means ‘Low Impact Living Affordable Community’, reflecting its members’ threefold commitment to sustainability, mutual ownership and community living.
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 [1]. The UK government set a target for all new buildings to be carbon neutral by 2019 [2]. 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 are we doing 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 [3], a home built using straw bale as insulation can actually store 12.25 tonnes of CO2!
Second, 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.
Third, residents are working together to consider the environmental impact of our 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 our allotments means we eat as locally as physically possible!
Affordability
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) [4].
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.
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 neighbourhood where they can directly participate and where their views matter.
Design
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. 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.
Food
Food plays an important role in LILAC. In the Common House we have a shared kitchen and a pantry that we stock up regularly with food bought on bulk which off course reduces our food bills. We believe it’s important to try and keep the food for our shared meals affordable and sustainable. We meet twice a week to eat together in the Common House: the time we spend relaxing over our meals, or working together to produce them creates spaces to talk and share and build the links that help sustain our community. We also host a delivery hub for several cooperatives and smaller organic suppliers: members can get bread, whole foods, fruit and vegetables and diary products delivered to their door. We organise skills share workshops around food and learn new ways to source and prepare food.
[1] Richard Miller, Richard Miller, Low Impact Buildings Innovation Platform, Technology Strategy Board [http://www.innovationuk.org/news/innovation-uk-vol6-1/0313-carbon-emissions—growth-opportunities-in-a-low-carbon-economy.html] [accessed 06/07/13].
[2] Department for Communities and Local Government, ‘Improving the Energy Efficiency in Buildings and Using Planning to Protect the Environment’, [https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/improving-the-energy-efficiency-of-buildings-and-using-planning-to-protect-the-environment] [accessed 06/07/13].
[3] Qureshi, H. ‘Home is Where the Heat Is: Why Old Can be Good as New’, The Guardian March 16, 2008 [http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/mar/16/homeimprovements.householdbills] [accessed 06/07/13].
[4] Communities and Local Givernment, Live Tables on Housing Market and House Prices, Table 513, cited in House of Commons Library, ‘Regional House Prices: affordability and income ratios’ 29 May 2012