Great news from our member organisation, YorSpace, who are “bringing low carbon, affordable communities to York”! Even better is that one of the lead members of the project is non other than our James Neward who is our Associate on the Retrofit work for CCH.
YorSpace is also celebrating a key moment in delivering York’s first housing co-operative as work begins onsite this week to build the homes.
The YorSpace model offers residents a chance to buy homes at 75% of the market value and keeps the land in community hands forever. The £4.5 million project will deliver 19 low carbon homes built to Passivhaus standards, reducing co2 emissions and energy bills; making them affordable to run too.
Sue of Lowfield Green Housing Co-op said, “This is such an exciting day for us to be here on site, where our future homes will be. We’ve been waiting for this day for a long time, 10 years for some members. I really want to live in this community, know who my neighbours are, share resources and do what we can to reduce our collective carbon footprint.”
James of YorSpace [and CCH] added, “We’re really pleased to be moving onto this stage of the project when, at times, it’s felt like it might never happen. A core group of committed people who believed in trying to make a difference in York have persisted through many challenges. We have had a lot of support to get to this point today, not least our 180 social investors who helped us secure the land.”
YorSpace secured both grant funding and the development finance in 2023 needed to start building, and now a grant from the Brownfield Land Release Fund administered by the newly formed York & North Yorkshire Combined Authority has unlocked the project.
“How it works is that residents will own their own homes but everyone has chosen to live in the community as part of Lowfield Green Housing Co-operative.
With an ethos centred around community, sustainability and affordability, the co-op believes it’s important to look at the way we live as well as the homes we live in. We don’t all need to own one of everything – lawnmowers, cars, tents etc can all be shared – helping us all to save money and work together to leave a lighter carbon footprint.
By coming together in this project, no matter people’s age or background, we are tackling the issues of loneliness and isolation, promoting community, affordability of home ownership and reducing the environmental impact of our homes and lifestyles.” – Sue.