The Ashley Vale collective self build venture was born in the late 1990s out of a local desire to stop a piece of land being developed into 35 properties by a volume housebuilder. An action group was formed to offer the opportunity for local people to construct their own homes on the Bristol site instead. They set up a not-for-profit limited company and raised the money to buy the site. The original plan involved 20 individual self builds and six housing association dwellings. However, the association involved later dropped out of the project, so the community group developed these properties instead. Over the course of 10 years, 41 homes have been created
In the UK, a wide variety of groups have successfully united to create new housing – from friends that club together and use their own money to buy land through to larger sites with 50 or 100 plots.
All sorts of people and families become involved in these schemes from every walk of life – they can be well-off or on low incomes, live in the city or countryside, be young or old, and have plenty of building skills or none. But what generally unites them is an enterprising spirit and a capacity to help each other reach a common goal of achieving bespoke housing.