island cohousing
Barefoot Architects have been working with Island Cohousing to help the group in their aim to address an affordability gap between household incomes and market house prices on the Isle of Wight. The project has social, economic and environmental sustainability at its core, and the group have engaged in a participative design process with us to work towards this goal.
Island Cohousing is a member-led cohousing group which seeks to create an intentional neighbourhood with people who want to share some aspects of their lives whilst retaining individual private living spaces.
Among the 22 affordable homes, there will be shared facilities such as a common house, guest room, a shared food growing area, car-pooling, and a shared green space in which both children and adults can play and socialise.
Following initial land searches and site appraisals for 3 sites, we have developed layouts for Pre-Application to the local planning authority on land owned by the Church of England that is immediately adjacent to an existing development boundary. The project has been grant funded by money from Homes England distributed locally on the island. We are hoping to progress to a planning application on the site by March 2022, subject to additional grant funding and ongoing negotiations with the diocesan land owner.
