Co-creating Nottingham co-housing

Nottingham Civic Exchange supports the development of a co-housing project in Nottingham.

THiNK Nottingham in Cobden Place became a co-creation hotspot on Wednesday 7 February. Citizens, architects, and other experienced practitioners will built three prototypes of a Nottingham Co-Housing development for judgement by an expert panel.

Cohousing is an intentional community of private homes clustered around shared space. Each home has traditional amenities, including a private kitchen. Shared spaces typically include a kitchen and dining area, laundry, and recreational spaces. Shared outdoor space may include parking, walkways, open space, and gardens.

Nottingham Co-Housing with support from Nottingham Civic Exchange and the RSA hosted this problem-solving workshop in the centre of Nottingham to help tackle some of the challenges of building a community and housing development. Recognising the issues of housing across Nottingham and the UK, Nottingham co-housing has set out to develop a local solution that helps everyone from first-time buyers through to retired homeowners to live together in affordable community centred spaces.

Nottingham Civic Exchange helped to facilitate the event and is providing evidence on housing affordability. Our research on Ordinary Working Families highlighted the challenge faced by working households to purchase a home across the region. Our interactive map of house affordability paints a stark picture for the average earner. Co-housing is one possible route to developing secure and safe accommodation for a range of potential citizens locally.

If you’d like to hear the proposals and get a flavour of the workshop please watch this short video of the day.

If you'd like to know more about Nottingham Co-Housing and their application to build the cities first co-housing on Spondon Street in Sherwood contact the team by email.

If you would like further information about the work we are doing on housing visit our Out of the Ordinary page to view details.

To view the full-screen interactive housing affordability map please click this link and visit our mapping page for more information on rental price affordability and lower quintile house price affordability for the East Midlands.

About Nottingham Civic Exchange

Nottingham Civic Exchange has been established by Nottingham Trent University to maximise research, policy and practical impact by bringing together university expertise with partners seeking to address the needs of local communities. Nottingham Civic Exchange acts as a resource to look at social and economic issues in new ways. This means facilitating debate, acting as a bridge between research and policy debates, and developing practical projects at a local, city and regional level.

Visit our website - www.ntu.ac.uk/nce Contact us - notts.civicex@ntu.ac.uk Follow us - @NottsCivicEx

Published on 1 February 2018