The LILAC self-build co-operative in Leeds is celebrating a major milestone with the structural completion of their first home at the site of a former school in Bramley.

LILAC, which stands for the Low Impact Living, Affordable Community is a co-operative which allows members to create a shared way of living which also saves the residents money. LILAC is the first Mutual Home Ownership Society in England.

The LILAC scheme was made possible through a grant of £45,000 from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to enable such a completely new and revolutionary project to obtain planning permission. The HCA also provided Leeds City Council with £460,000 to help decontaminate and clear the derelict the site and make it suitable for new homes.


David Curtis, Executive Director at the HCA said: "It is fascinating to see what has been achieved here in such a short space of time. The members of LILAC are to be congratulated on turning their dream into a reality. Whilst large scale developments tend to make the headlines, schemes such as this and Custombuild sites will help people live in the homes they want at a price they can afford."

Paul Chatterton, a member of the LILAC co-operative said: "With the HCA's support we have been able to build the UK’s first genuinely affordable, low impact cohousing community. This is a landmark moment for showing the way for a new generation of communities wanting to build their own neighbourhoods."

The construction of the homes is also a living laboratory, since the houses are made using the unique Modell process which allows for the walls to be constructed from straw bales which provide a fully recyclable, highly insulating local building material that the members of the co-op were able to help build in a specially created 'flying factory'. This innovative approach was made possible with funding from the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

(CD)