Press Release – 2 October 2018
HOW DO YOU GET A COMMUNITY-LED HOUSING PROJECT READY FOR PLANNING?
ONE DAY WORKSHOP EXPLAINS THE PROCESS STEP-BY-STEP
RUSS, the Community Land Trust behind an innovative 33 home affordable self-build project in Lewisham, is launching a new workshop that explains the various actions required to get a community-led housing project from initial vision to being ready to submit a planning application.
RUSS recently secured planning permission for its £8m affordable housing project, following a long and complicated process. The workshop – due to be staged in London on Saturday 17 November – will explain how RUSS managed this over the last three years, and it will provide a detailed insight into the hurdles that had to be cleared, and the vital lessons that were learned along the way.
The workshop should particularly appeal to individuals or groups that are planning similar projects. Architects, housing professionals and other consultants involved in advising community led housing groups should also find the event helpful.
Speakers include the key professionals that helped RUSS secure its planning including:
Jon Broome – Architect, self-builder and RUSS Project Board Trustee who worked with Walter Segal
Emma Gittus – Director at Bringelly, community-led housing project specialist
Chris Carthy – Project manager for the RUSS scheme
Kareem Dayes – founder and former Chair of RUSS
Delegates will discover how RUSS came into being and its membership structure; how it developed its Vision for the project; how the RUSS ‘model’ works; and how to undertake an Appraisal for a project to check it is viable and affordable. The workshop will also explore the costs of the scheme – land costs, what do sites cost to develop, what do houses cost to build, and what’s the difference between building for rent, or building for sale.
Workshop organiser Anne Kennedy said: “This workshop is the second module in our education programme and it covers the actions required to take the project from a vision to the planning application stage. If delegates would also like to attend module 1, which covers the early stages of a project, we will be re-running this on Saturday 26 January 2019”.
The cost of the workshops is £50 (or £40 for concessions) and a small number of free places are sometimes available.
Full details of the programme for both modules are available on the following Eventbrite pages:
17 November (Module 2)
26 January (Module 1)