Page 4 - C.A.L.L. #39 - Spring 2015

Lancaster Co-housing, a visit to Forgebank

Jan Martin Bang

For those of you who have read “Communes Britannica” and “Utopia Britannica”
Chris Coates will be a familiar figure. For those who have not read these books,
Chris has been involved with the British communes movement since the 1970’s,
and has recently co-founded Lancaster Co-housing group in North East England.
Chris was elected Chair of the ICSA at last year’s conference.

The Lancaster Co-housing (LCH) group was formed several years ago in order to
create a community based on cooperation, and with a clear boundary between
the private and the common. In the aftermath of the financial crash in 2008
property prices fell and many development companies went bankrupt. It was a
buyer’s market, and LCH found an old derelict industrial property at Forgebank
just 3 miles out of Lancaster
on the banks of the river Lune,
in the village of Halton.

The group bought the property
for £600,000 in 2009 and
already had a good deal of the

organisational infrastructure in
place, including architects,
planners and lawyers. The total
investment for planning and
building the 40 terraced
houses and installing the heating, sewage, energy and water systems came to
around £11 million. Houses at Forgebank were able to be sold at market prices
without any additional charge for the high environmental standards and the
communal facilities.

Each family or person buys a house on a 999 year lease, and is free to sell it
whenever they want. Any prospective buyer has to be voted in as a member of
the co-housing group. Should the buyer not be admitted, Lancaster co-housing
can buy the house back after a fair valuation, and so be able to sell it on to
others.

Lancaster Co-housing is the owner of the site and the buildings. There is also an
old mill, which is being managed by a separate holding, called Green Elephant
(GE). This is a management company that rents out space to people needing
workshops, office or storage space. GE has been operating for less than a year,
but looks to be breaking even already at this early stage.

4