Introduction

Even the best recent eco-developments reduce mainly direct energy use in the home, which is only 17% of the total energy footprint of the average household. 39% of energy use is travel and food production which need ‘lifestyle sustainability' changes, not just technology. Cohousing can provide this, and is being recognised as such by some progressive local authorities and national bodies.

As described below, there is substantial unmet consumer demand for cohousing. The structure of the cohousing market makes it difficult for resident groups to acquire and develop land on their own. The US market, where cohousing has grown rapidly over the past 15 years, has shown that specialist developers can play a key role in this process. The rest of this section outlines indicators on demand for cohousing, and the benefits which the sector can offer to progressive developers.

Evidence of Demand

This lists both general information and data for specific cohousing projects.

1. UK Cohousing Network: although this is an informal network with minimal resources and a fairly basic website, the site currently averages 2,000 hits per month, and this surges whenever a media feature appears, e.g. 3,000 hits within a week after a Guardian feature.
   Media Features: although no one is spending PR funds to promote cohousing, there have been a dozen major media features in the past two years: this includes the quality national papers, Radio 4 and recently SAGA magazine, recognising the high interest among over 50's.
2. Cohousing Workshops: the Threshold Centre in Dorset has run regular weekend workshops on cohousing since early 2005. Virtually all the participants are seriously interested in living in cohousing, and the main obstacle is the lack of suitable projects.
3. Stroud: Springhill cohousing project in Stroud is the only new build cohousing in the UK to date. A site option was purchased, and residents were recruited by advertising and networking, with a £5,000 non-returnable deposit per household. Within a few months, nearly half the 35 units were reserved by deposits, and contracts for site purchase were exchanged. Certainty that the project was proceeding boosted interest: by completion of the site purchase, 80% of units were sold, and before construction, this was 100%.
   Springhill was completed in 2004. There has been increasing demand for units as awareness of ohousing grows and the project becomes established: there is now a waiting list, and recent units have sold for a 20-25% premium over similar units in Stroud.
4. Laughton: this is the first cohousing community in the UK, completed in 2000: it is a conversion of rural hospital buildings near the village of Laughton, outside Lewes. This project
   requires resale prices to be held in line with similar properties locally. They report increasingly large numbers of buyers interested in units, both from local advertising and via the cohousing network, and believe a significant premium could be achieved.
5. Threshold Centre: this project in Dorset is seeking planning permission to convert former
   farm buildings to mixed-use, including 14 cohousing units and an education centre. It has been operating on a pilot basis since late 2004, and unlike other cohousing groups, has welcomed media coverage and runs regular cohousing workshops. During this time, many hundreds of enquiries have been received from potential residents for this or other cohousing projects.
6. Lancaster: this is a relatively new group, which has benefited from rising awareness of cohousing. From a standing start, they have recruited 26 households with paid deposits.

Benefits for developers

• Early entry into a new sector with strong growth potential, able to achieve a price premium with buyers.
• Developments are effectively pre-sold to prospective residents, reducing sales risk and finance and marketing costs.
• Favourable response and better site approvals from progressive local authorities, e.g.:
1. Higher density because less parking spaces are needed.
2. Lower social housing provision because of other benefits
• Prestige and media coverage benefit the developer's overall standing.
• Supportive response is likely from the surrounding community because they can benefit from the facilities and services cohousing provides.
• Better financial terms for social housing provision, because the Housing Corporation is very keen to enable mixed-tenure cohousing.
• Involvement with cohousing positions a developer at the leading edge of sustainable development, since this is one of the few forms of housing provision with clear benefits for ‘lifestyle' energy consumption as well as in-home direct energy.