tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46360191201905600692024-02-20T23:38:47.571-08:00Cambridge K1Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17204938440917009099noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4636019120190560069.post-17134830534498919272018-02-08T00:50:00.000-08:002018-02-08T00:50:44.139-08:00Visiting The Trivselhus Factory<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Tom and I had the great fortune to represent our members on a recent Trivselhus factory visit to Sweden. It was quite something to see the size of the "hanger" that had our frames under construction, and receive a warm welcome from our hosts. This is house building like you have never seen before!</div>
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The walls and roof trusses for our houses are made in the factory in Sweden. But the translation from Swedish construction practice to the way in which we do things in the UK is not straightforward.</div>
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Most Swedish houses are timber clad and the cladding is fixed to the wall panels in the factory. But we prefer a brick finish so the first difference is that the timber cladding is left off. But whereas Trivselhus design their house elements in increments of 10cm, this does not tie in with the brick module of 22.5 cm long and 7.5cm tall, so all the wall sizes and window positions we need for our UK brick clad houses require every design to be special and non standard.</div>
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Holes for electrical switches and sockets, and conduit for cables, are all incorporated in the Swedish factory. In Sweden all these items have circular back boxes within the wall; logical when you can simply cut a circular hole with a holesaw. But of course in the UK, our heritage is rectangular back boxes, which are easily cut in brick with a hammer and bolster, but require a different technique in timber.</div>
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The UK is seen as a significant growth market for Swedish factory built houses, so Trisvelhus burnt the <span class="m_-3317448543682120980m_-6206637432675949673gmail-aBn" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204);"><span class="m_-3317448543682120980m_-6206637432675949673gmail-aQJ">midnight</span></span> oil, overcame all these annoying differences and have delivered frames which will give us a warm, cosy, airtight, shell that we will benefit from in years to come.</div>
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So will the building market see more of this modular build technology? We hope so. The fast construction on site could certainly help with the swifter delivery of homes in the UK!</div>
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Ian Collins</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17204938440917009099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4636019120190560069.post-36040809049326309152017-12-14T01:27:00.000-08:002017-12-14T01:27:30.950-08:00Jonny Anstead of Town discusses the challenge of delivering custom build homes at scale.<br />
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Link to full article:<br />
<a href="http://custombuildstrategy.co.uk/guest-blog/jonny-anstead-discusses-delivering-custom-build-at-scale/?platform=hootsuite">http://custombuildstrategy.co.uk/guest-blog/jonny-anstead-discusses-delivering-custom-build-at-scale/?platform=hootsuite</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17204938440917009099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4636019120190560069.post-23760416048409356752017-11-26T05:24:00.000-08:002017-11-28T12:45:48.320-08:00Creating our “Village”<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A recent trip to participate in a learning day at the Older Women’s Cohousing development (OWCH) in Barnet gave me food for thought. After moving in last year, the group are about to celebrate 12 months of cohousing. But with just 25 properties it’s a reasonably close group of women over 55years. We will have a very different dynamic!<br />
<a name='more'></a>So, musing on our challenges, K1 at Marmalade Lane will be a settlement more akin to a small village hamlet of around 100 neighbours, parachuted into Orchard Park. Our multigenerational model means that we will know and encounter lots of differing experiences and attitudes despite our overarching commitment to cohousing, community and sustainable (with a small s) living. This leads to an expectation of enrichment that is unlikely to be encountered in a “normal” development where familiarity with your wider neighbours is very unlikely.<br />
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“Chewing the fat” (veggie of course!) over regular community meals, working cooperatively to maintain our Common House and gardens, managing our service charges and finances together, will create the glue for our relationships.<br />
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Pragmatically, we know that all will not be “sweetness and light” so we have put together community agreements that will help us navigate the challenges; but there is no doubt this will be an evolving process as time goes by.<br />
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Personally, I have already found the experience enriching and challenging. Over the last four years it’s been no mean feat for the group to get to this great outcome; five months of building work under the belt! There have been challenges on the way - work within the confines of consensus decision making, constantly recruit new members, saying goodbye to those who were unable to wait, or afford the Cambridge prices, learning to work with a development partner and trying to stay “cool” when planning took so long! But the patience and persistence of our members has all been worth it.<br />
Move in day in June 2018 will be fun, possibly chaotic, but a huge achievement!<br />
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Can’t wait for the party!<br />
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Jan ChadwickAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17204938440917009099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4636019120190560069.post-22801789235785509972017-10-02T14:33:00.000-07:002017-10-02T14:34:07.838-07:00How did the name Marmalade Lane come about?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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How does marmalade fit
together with a new housing development and a cohousing community?
How did the name come about and who decided on it? This is what this
post is meant to explain.<br />
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The K1 Cohousing
development lies alongside several existing roads: Topper Street,
Graham Road, Starr End as well as the guided busway and Kings Hedges
Road. The layout of our community created a new lane, which, for
several years as we went through the design and planning process, was
simply called ‘The Lane’ amongst ourselves. However, the name of
the lane needed to be formalised so that the houses alongside its
southern edge, as well as the common house, could have a proper
address.
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According to Section 17
of the Public Health Act 1925 (why the Public Health Act?) a person
who creates a new street has the right to propose a name for that
street. This was an exciting prospect: could we come up with a
suitable name for the lane that would be fitting for our cohousing
project?</div>
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We played around with
several names. Other names that were in the mix were: ‘The Lane’
(simple, and we were used to it), ‘Acorn Lane’ (we have oak
trees on the site, and we are growing a great community out of a
small seed), and ‘Winstanley Lane’ (the founder of the True
Levellers or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggers" target="_blank">Diggers</a> in the 17th century),
and more.
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We then realised that
the council has strict guidelines for naming new roads and <a href="https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/street-naming-and-property-numbering-policy.pdf" target="_blank">places</a>,
one of which is: “Developers are encouraged to preserve any
historic link to the land which they are developing, eg field names
the land may be previously known as, or previous property names
located on site such as farm names or any other associated historic
link”. This was actually giving us a chance to come up with a name
that would somehow describe our project but also link us with the
wider community and the history of the area.
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This was the first step
towards the naming of ‘Marmalade Lane’.</div>
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Orchard Park was
originally known as Arbury Camp, named after the Roman camp that lies
at the western end of Orchard Park. When the area was developed for
housing it was rebranded Arbury Park but the name was later changed
to Orchard Park - apparently after a <a href="https://statusq.org/archives/2010/03/24/2776/" target="_blank">campaign by local residents</a>.
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The name Orchard Park
connects the area with the Chivers jam-making and farming business
based in Histon and Impington. In the early 19th century market
gardening was an important part of the local economy with plenty of
orchards distributed around the edges of <a href="http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol9/pp97-101" target="_blank">Cambridge</a>.
In the mid-19th century the Cambridge and St Ives branch railway line
was constructed (now the guided busway) and offered good transport
links for produce to London and other parts of the country. Stephen
Chivers recognised the potential for business and in 1850 bought an
orchard next to the railway and founded the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chivers_and_Sons" target="_blank">Chivers</a> fruit
distribution and jam making business.</div>
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A factory was built on
the orchard site next to Histon Railway Station in 1875. This was
first called Victoria Works, and renamed Orchard Factory around 1910.
Fruit jellies, custard powder and <u>orange marmalade</u> were made
at <a href="http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol9/pp97-101" target="_blank">Histon from the 1880s onwards</a>.
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After the first World
War the Chivers enterprise had become an integrated farming
operation, growing all of its own fruit as well as raising pedigree
cows and pigs, and the company owned many orchards, farms and
agricultural land around Histon and Impington.
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The Chivers family were
paternalistic employers implementing a profit sharing scheme as early
as 1891. Consultation with the work force took place through a system
of advisory committees. By 1914 welfare provisions included a
factory nurse, surgery and canteens, evening and day release classes.
The business paid a family doctor and established the village <a href="http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Chivers_and_Sons" target="_blank">firebrigade</a>.
Contributory pensions were introduced from <a href="http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol9/pp97-101" target="_blank">1933</a>.
We felt that the ethos and practices of the early Chivers business
lie close to the heart of those of the Cohousing movement which was
another reason we wanted to link our place with the history of the
area.</div>
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<a href="http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=16&lat=52.2341&lon=0.1298&layers=171&right=BingHyb" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="600" height="106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLimGtJl0NkkJ83OZ32N-FzVH724snTVEcfraRBxf4lTjGYftQAtXjSvw3JzhafLD6FCeXG2NjjFFMfgbyMlJeFKNpRlmytF3-c1nJEGqiH8Bx9TnoJ6gjJ8dAIESA1Fyu8UaLfts4VA/s320/map.jpg" width="320" /></a><span id="goog_226682131"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_226682132"></span></div>
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We love marmalade.
There are also nice connotations of having breakfast together, with
marmalade on toast, the colour orange - and the word ‘marmalade’
forms a nice lyrical alliteration and sort of ‘swings’ together
with ‘lane’. Hence the name Marmalade Lane was born.
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As we make all
decisions by consensus-based decision making, the name of the lane,
together with all the other names that had been suggested, were put
to the vote by the whole K1 community. Marmalade Lane narrowly made
the cut!
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Initially we thought
that the connection of the Chivers jam making business with the local
area is commemorated in only two road and place names: the site of
the Orchard Factory next to Histon Station was re-developed for
business use and lies alongside <i>Chivers Way</i>; a balancing
pond, on the other side of the A14 opposite Orchard Park is called
<i>Chivers Lake</i>. We didn’t know that apparently the street
names around the K1 Cohousing site are the names of former Chivers
employees! This almost put a stop to our plans as apparently there is
still a list with unassigned names which should have been used for
the lane.
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Not that we do not want
to commemorate former Chivers employees, but we also loved our name,
so we pleaded with the city council and put our case forward. The
Council kindly conceded that we would be able to call the new lane
Marmalade Lane, as long the Orchard Park Community Council agreed. So
we visited the community council and put our case to them. Luckily
they liked the name as much as us. It seems a lot of people like
marmalade!
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We hope that the name
will appeal not only to us, but to the wider community of Orchard
Park and Cambridge and help link us all together. It is meant to be
unusual, historic, poetic, invoke a sense of community, and be fun!
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(The author would like
to thank the K1 Cohousing Community, Cambridge City Council, Orchard
Park Community Council and Paddington Bear).</div>
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By Christiane</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17204938440917009099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4636019120190560069.post-40330681195443969232017-08-16T14:31:00.001-07:002017-10-02T14:09:04.107-07:00How do you solve a problem like parking?<br />
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From the beginning, the car-free lane has been a central (literally and figuratively) focus of the cohousing community. Physically, it runs across the development, and provides a space that encourages neighbours to interact, and a space for children to play without the noise and danger of motor vehicles. However, it is also a statement: that space for people is more important than space for cars; and part of our ethos to ‘live lightly’ and reduce the environmental impact of our travel.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
However, as things stand, the planning process has resulted in car parking in The Lane, and more of our communal garden space is given over to parking to meet the local authority requirements. Parking in Orchard Park is already strained, and there was concern that K1 should not make the existing situation worse.<br />
<br />
Well, we thought, surely we do not intend to use the parking which has been forced up on us? We had already discussed the possibility of car pools. We are ideally situated for travel by foot, cycle, bus and train.<br />
<br />
So we surveyed the existing membership about their intentions with respect to bringing cars to K1. The results were not encouraging: only 3 car-free households at the point of moving in, not even enough to keep The Lane clear of vehicles, let alone reclaim garden space. A problem.<br />
<br />
However, one of the benefits of Cohousing is not just that we are a community of neighbours, but that we are also part of a network of Cohousing communities. Why reinvent the wheel? There are other people who have solved the problems we are facing.<br />
<br />
So last weekend we were visited by Fiona Frank from Lancaster Cohousing. Their community, Forgebank, is in a village 3 miles from central Lancaster. The rural setting does not have the same advantages as K1 in terms of transport location, but they have found a way to live with one parking space per three households, compared with K1’s one per household. Fiona was on hand to explain.<br />
<br />
Their travel plan was very similar to ours in terms of the principles: encouraging walking and cycling, providing information on public transport, car pooling. What was new to me, listening to Fiona, was the next-level sharing. I know that Cohousing is a great way to share resources, but I wouldn’t have come up with the idea of cross-community subsidisation of trips for the benefit of all.<br />
<br />
For example, Lancaster communally buy a monthly megarider for use on local buses and pay a lower price per use of the shared ticket. This in itself doesn’t surprise me: it means that everyone can share in cheaper bus travel if it is sufficiently well-used. But what if two people want the ticket at once? People might resent paying into a pot for a benefit they can’t use when they need it, and then the arrangement falls apart without support. Their solution is that if the ticket is already in use, the second person pays full fare for their journey, but is reimbursed for the difference between what they paid and what it would have cost using the megarider. This doesn’t happen very often, so the overall cost to the community is low. In busy months for bus use, they sometimes get a second ticket. It’s not a perfect system: there is an organisational overhead for this, and there will be winners and losers in paying for bus use, but as a group it encourages use of public transport by making the per-trip cost seem more attractive and always available as a benefit.<br />
<br />
We were particularly interested in the car pool system in use at Forgebank, as although we were keen on the idea we had very few details on how it might work in practice. Over the years the number of pool cars has grown as they were bought or people sold their own cars to the community (for car use credit) so that they now have access to six cars. Included in the pool is a range of vehicles including electric models, and going up to 7-seaters. Fiona provided testimonials from the other residents, and one of the benefits cited was that it meant there was a car for every occasion: small cars for short distance and city parking spaces, larger ones for cargo and family events.<br />
<br />
The overhead, both financial and in time and organisation, of running and maintaining the cars is one of the tasks shared by the community. Each use of a pool car is charged by time and mileage, so although it is not necessarily more expensive to the individual across a year to use a car, each journey needs to justify the cost. The sunk costs of individual car ownership does not encourage thinking about car travel on a per-trip basis, unlike the car club.<br />
<br />
As with the megarider, if at any point a car is not available when it is needed, the group pays for the shortest journey which needs to be made to go by taxi, to free up a pool car. It is rarely necessary, and their custom-developed booking site for the cars makes it easy to see which cars are available and when, or which of your neighbours to ask if you want to switch bookings.<br />
<br />
Residents regularly invite other people to share in their journeys, both to reduce costs and to have company.<br />
<br />
There are residents who still own private cars, because the nature or frequency of their journeys makes use of the car club untenable. Even within the car club, if someone has a temporary change of circumstance and needs access to a pool car for a longer period of time, this has been arranged.<br />
<br />
K1 may or may not go down the full car club route: sharing vehicles between fewer households has some benefits in ease of setup, but whatever we choose, we will be better informed of what can be achieved and how by the example of our friends at Lancaster Cohousing. I’ve certainly been inspired by the co-operation and organisation demonstrated within their community. Thanks to Fiona and Forgebank for their insight!<br />
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<a href="http://www.twitter.com/@hesterkw" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="50" data-original-width="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi_3FBIh7HaTGC6eqMgcmEcsNyn_TDOCMPRc1OAsm34MaL9W79M2CipUt1gLA4SsKMx1xPSZx5uYECqnpi3l_vydvT8h1mz4c7kl3PlOtAOnC2kwbxMGxLOJrHCWcjYPFQxyLSQDNRXA4/s1600/PersonLogoHester.png" /></a></div>
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Written by Hester.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17204938440917009099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4636019120190560069.post-77190514211643890372015-10-04T14:21:00.000-07:002015-10-04T14:22:52.479-07:00K1 community-building round the campfire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Camping and glorious autumn weather don’t usually go together in the same sentence. But<br />
muddy wellies were nowhere in sight as the sun shone down on us all in the Cambridgeshire<br />
countryside.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Thirty or so of us Cambridge Cohousing members of all ages had converged on the lovely<br />
Forest School camp near Haddenham for a community-building weekend (camping entirely<br />
optional!)<br />
<br />
Clearly, we all have a common purpose as prospective cohousers and have been working<br />
hard on the project together – but are we a community?<br />
<br />
Not yet.<br />
<br />
We don’t all know one another, some members don’t live locally and people have come on<br />
board at different times.<br />
<br />
So it was a landmark event for us – the biggest gathering of K1 members to date. As well as<br />
relaxing and enjoying ourselves, there was a really useful workshop led by Reverend Ruth.<br />
<br />
<b>What are our cohousing values?</b><br />
<br />
In one of the workshop activities, each of us wrote down why we were attracted to cohousing<br />
then spoke about it within a smaller group. Sharing, support, fun, neighbourliness, extended<br />
family and reducing our environmental footprint were some of the themes that came up.<br />
<br />
<b>How will we communicate successfully and make decisions together?</b><br />
<br />
In another interesting exercise, Ruth asked to think about our attitudes to conflict – attitudes<br />
we’ve all probably inherited from childhood. Are we someone who avoids conflict? Or are we<br />
OK at dealing with situations where people are disagreeing? <br />
<br />
We were also asked to think about four different personality types and where we fit on the<br />
spectrum. Maybe we like to analyse all possible information before deciding something, or<br />
maybe we’re irritated by a lot of discussion and want to make quick decisions.<br />
<br />
A useful technique Ruth told us about is The High Five. If there’s disagreement and it’s<br />
proving hard to reach a decision, the idea is to get to a point where everyone can hold up at<br />
least two fingers – meaning “I don’t love it but I can live with it.”<br />
<br />
To be exchanging big ideas, hopes and dreams in a workshop circle, then later to be sitting<br />
around the campfire, eating, chatting and enjoying ourselves – it all felt like an enticing<br />
glimpse of the future.<br />
<br />
This is how it could be – WILL be – once K1 is built.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17204938440917009099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4636019120190560069.post-62475700391715784752015-09-07T09:06:00.000-07:002015-09-07T09:09:04.071-07:00What's in a “Lane”...?A “Road” by any other name ...<br />
<br />
The Oxford English Dictionary says it's “a narrow road especially in a rural area”.<br />
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In cohousing terms it's definitely a lot more!<br />
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<a name='more'></a>For a start, we at K1 are certainly not in a rural area, but we do want to create a rural feel, so our lane will be “green” with a surface that is robust enough to take emergency vehicles, but permeable to grass, so that over time we create a green amenity space that our kids can feel is part of their play space.<br />
<br />
It will be car free, definitely not what a rural lane is, but a must have in cohousing terms; an essential element to all cohousing developments across the world. It's our “social space”, where neighbours “happen” upon each other as they go about there daily business, kids can be viewed from kitchen windows, pop safely across the lane to their friends in neighbouring houses and ride their bikes without fear of cars – a great place to lean how to overcome those first wobbly rides!<br />
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North and South Terrace gardens will abut naturally onto the lane, creating a wider feel and “spillage” of plant and flowers. There will be interesting features to break up the straight lines, a place for bikes and picnics, and a wild flower mound is envisaged. It will be a one way route for vehicle access when necessary – we do need to think of fire engines – but primarily a natural space for fun and frolic!<br />
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So, “What's in our lane?”<br />
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People!<br />
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And it will smell sweet!<br />
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By Jan Chadwick</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17204938440917009099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4636019120190560069.post-79289654060840207062015-08-15T04:15:00.002-07:002018-02-07T13:37:52.254-08:00Our K1 Anniversary – A Voyage of Discovery Part.1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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“Well, if nothing comes of it all we've lost is £100”.<br />
<br />
That’s what we told each other just before we joined on 23rd August 2013. Almost two years to the day.<br />
<br />
Triggered by an article in the Guardian, which highlighted the option of cohousing as a possible solution for the increasing loneliness and disconnection amongst people in general and the elderly in particular, we started to think about our situation. Although hale and hearty just turned 60 year olds, we were both well aware that, as time passed, it might not always be the case. The future support of friends and family could be problematic and eventually there could be just one of us left! With one daughter, and no desire to become dependant elderly parents, we saw cohousing as a potential solution to ensure we stayed interested, lively and engaged in our community now and during our twilight years.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Many of our friend had also expressed concern about the future. “We could buy a big house and all live together” was one suggestion. This echoed by another couple who reckoned as we all got older we could pool resources and employ carers when we got too doddery!<br />
<br />
Uhm...”do we want to be exclusively with our own age group and a select bunch of friends?” said Ian. Recipe for a “Victor Mildrew” scenario possibly? “Really don't want to be a grumpy old man”. I second that!<br />
<br />
So the research started.... (husband is a business analyst after all!) but in my mind it was a done deal, I had already moved in somewhere and imagined having a fabulous time! (I'm a BIG Picture person!)<br />
<br />
Ian spent the next 6 months researching what this exciting idea of Cohousing was all about. We looked at Lancaster's website (full up no houses left!) other embryonic groups (long way away from anything concrete happening), the cohousing network and most importantly, arranged to visit Springhill, the UK first cohousing build, for one of their “learn about cohousing” events in the summer of 2013.<br />
<br />
At Springhill we stayed with a lovely lady called Karen, who was a founder members of Springhill, and her son, enjoyed community meals, did a bit of cooking, cleaning and maintenance with the group and enjoyed an impromptu concert by a visiting American singer song writer who was sofa surfing her way around the UK. On the Sunday evening we said our goodbyes and left, convinced that cohousing was the “Holy Grail” we were looking for. Back to the research and finding a scheme we could move to before we got too old or dead!<br />
<br />
That was two years ago. We quickly found K1 Cambridge Cohousing, decided that this was the most likely scheme to be built within a reasonable time frame, joined and started to get involved.......but that's for another blog!<br />
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Cheers,</div>
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Jan Chadwick</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17204938440917009099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4636019120190560069.post-45561420144813578862015-08-11T14:00:00.000-07:002015-08-11T15:22:56.927-07:00A group of people, eating together. <div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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Sure, these days it’s more likely to be a group of people distractedly staring at one or several flickering screens, but they are <i>together</i> nonetheless. In the case of a group of people who have decided to live socially, it’s a good informal forum, even if the only topic under discussion may be the chefs cavalier use of salt. </div>
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For me one of the most exciting parts of the cohousing idea has been the large group meals. Why? Put simply, it’s something I think I can help with.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Since joining K1 my thoughts have been split evenly between consideration of mine and my partner’s future house, and fitting out the Common House kitchen. The logistical challenge of feeding dozens of people poses questions that have me obsessively scrolling through catering websites. Do recipes scale linearly? Do the ratios in a Delia Smith beef casserole have to change once you increase the quantity from 4 persons worth to 40? My mind plays host to a procession of comically large pots. It all sounds like tremendous fun, I know the group contains people with professional catering experience and I hope they can fill in the blanks. </div>
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A family usually has one grown-up who ends up being the primary cook. Despite the recent renaissance of cooking in the UK, and the likely presence of one or several recipes plucked from the pages of the Guardians Food & Drink section, any cook's repertoire will have its limits. It seems fair to say that a group with more cooks will, allowing for some overlap, be able to create a more varied weekly menu than even the most ardent foodie. Unless, of course, they all exclusively read the same bits of the aforementioned Food & Drink section. </div>
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I think that with support and encouragement, people who don’t normally spend a lot of time pottering in the kitchen can find “That Thing I Like To Make”. It’s an opportunity for those without the time to cook to eat home-cooked meals using fresh ingredients. Equally an opportunity for those who fancy themselves as competent cooks to take on new challenges. In my case, exclusively vegetarian or vegan meals. </div>
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There are still lots of questions, and a few good places to find answers. One of them being, unsurprisingly...<br />
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<a href="http://www.cohousing.org/meals-2001%C2%A0">http://www.cohousing.org/meals-2001 </a></div>
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“The data collected from the survey, what folks told me, and observations from community visits over the years have confirmed my intuition that common meals are for most, if not all residents, "The glue that holds us together."”<br />
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Written by Dave<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17204938440917009099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4636019120190560069.post-1921753896032653882015-08-10T12:29:00.000-07:002015-08-12T03:05:36.431-07:00Making decisions together<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">One of the key things about cohousing is that there are no dictators allowed.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But how does taking decisions together work in practice - and believe me there are hundreds of big and small ones that are needed when planning and designing a cohousing community.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Everything from the layout of the scheme to the style of the homes and the use of shared spaces. Even more important discussions have focused on how we'll all live together as a community when we finally move in.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We hope that what we're learning now about co-operative decisions, as we continue to plan and design, will put us in good stead for when we become a community of about 40 households, when the same principle of consensus will apply.</span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What’s clear so far is that consensus is a sweet spot that can be hard to reach, being neither about unanimity nor about compromise. To borrow a famous phrase, it's about trying to arrive at "the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people".</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Happiness might be overstating it. For some knotty issues, it's often a question of reaching a decision together which people are prepared to live with, even if they don't joyfully embrace it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As discussion has gone back and forth over some tricky legal or financial topics recently, it's been fascinating to observe the psychology involved and how the group dynamics play out.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Some people are really dogged, gnawing away repeatedly at a problem until they arrive at a solution that people can go with - and all credit to them. But in my case, especially if it's a long debate over email about something theoretical or about which I have no strong interest, I've noticed a tendency in myself to disengage. </span></span><br />
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</span></span> <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">That's one of the risks of consensus-building across a large group: it's important to judge the right time to put something to a vote before people get exhausted by the discussion and opt out.</span></span><br />
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</span></span> <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The great thing is, everyone has a choice. I know if I do happen to feel strongly about a topic that needs to be decided, I can use the voting system (<a href="http://www.loomio.org/">www.loomio.org</a>) to put up a proposal, vote for or against someone else's, or record an abstention.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If something is voted through on a low turnout, we may park the issue and come back to it later, because we firmly believe that the more we’re all involved, the better the decision-making and the more we bind together in preparation for living in K1. </span></span><br />
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</span></span> <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As a process, it can be slow and frustrating though, especially if you don't enjoy a lot of email discussion and meetings, or if you're the sort of person who forms strong opinions quickly and likes getting to a decision fast. </span></span><br />
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</span></span> <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But it's really worth sticking with it. Consensus-building is as much about the journey as the destination: a dynamic process which can produce really creative results and enables everyone to have a say.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Forget the mortar and cement - taking decisions together is the real strength in the fabric of a successful cohousing community. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Written by Chrissie</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4636019120190560069.post-30922799789321156952015-08-04T13:21:00.002-07:002015-08-05T11:08:40.393-07:00Why would an introvert be interested in cohousing?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCVDBWVMtoc0F3Hg7qr9rTuQC5_KuxxNoiuBGqT4YQDcHxFPek-liD6BzrZgc3VogeYgP7BAyPTzcCSb9lCRwakOpHj8YQ1FhRq6Wkoin_vBRU7ZDxgx67_OaIxJQEMEiJleadEkwAqfY/s1600/party.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCVDBWVMtoc0F3Hg7qr9rTuQC5_KuxxNoiuBGqT4YQDcHxFPek-liD6BzrZgc3VogeYgP7BAyPTzcCSb9lCRwakOpHj8YQ1FhRq6Wkoin_vBRU7ZDxgx67_OaIxJQEMEiJleadEkwAqfY/s400/party.jpg" title="" width="400" /></a></div>
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“Oh I’d be interested in Cohousing, but my partner wouldn’t: they’re very introverted”.<br />
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This was an exchange I had a while ago when I mentioned my interest in the <a href="http://www.cambridge-k1.co.uk/">K1 cohousing community</a>. I don’t mean to pick on this individual or suggest they were wrong: there are lots of reasons why cohousing wouldn’t be for some people.<br />
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But never-the-less, it came back to me today. Why would an introvert be interested in cohousing? Isn’t it about being around other people all the time?<br />
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I think this is a misunderstanding of both cohousing and introversion.<br />
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I’m involved in lots of community activities as a volunteer. I go to meetings, I go to busy community events. In contexts where I am comfortable and knowledgeable I can even be quite loud and opinionated.<br />
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I am an introvert. It seems to have got less pronounced as I’ve got older, but social interaction tires me out. I relax by doing things on my own. I have never started a conversation with a stranger unbidden, and it always strikes me as slightly odd when people do it to me: I can’t quite fathom why you wouldn’t see someone on their own and assume that they were okay like that.<br />
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But I still benefit from socialising with people. I can get lonely. I have things I want to do which necessitate the involvement of others. Introverts don’t necessarily view living in a cabin in the woods on one’s own as the pinnacle of human existence (though there are some…).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6k1UBSV_103e-N8dR3Uz7dZ4R_B8iGkktmUN1cdL63yiy-BRW979quzf0e0JrJASbhDN70nCW7EaqKH9FwVSpu9Xm148tURk73P1b3XSAKT1HyrcR6rF454Okf9NBHhG-wlMDHutubPk/s1600/funnyfist_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6k1UBSV_103e-N8dR3Uz7dZ4R_B8iGkktmUN1cdL63yiy-BRW979quzf0e0JrJASbhDN70nCW7EaqKH9FwVSpu9Xm148tURk73P1b3XSAKT1HyrcR6rF454Okf9NBHhG-wlMDHutubPk/s320/funnyfist_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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But it doesn’t seem to be an uncommon question how having introverted people works in cohousing: a quick search revealed lots of people asking it. There were also plenty of people answering:<br />
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<a href="http://lists.cohousing.org/archives/cohousing-l/msg18600.html">http://lists.cohousing.org/archives/cohousing-l/msg18600.html</a><br />
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Cohousing makes it possible for an introvert to both be alone and have a social context. I can go to parties for a few minutes or half an hour and leave, come back, sit in the corner and watch, whatever. People get to know when to say hello and when to leave you alone so that isn’t a problem.</blockquote>
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<a href="http://mainecohousing.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/introvert-and-extrovert-choose.html">http://mainecohousing.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/introvert-and-extrovert-choose.html</a><br />
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Despite the image many people have in their minds about cohousing, it’s not a cultish, hyper-connected, in-your-face-all-the-time community structure. In fact, most people who live in cohousing tend to be introverts. It provides the right mix of privacy (we own our own home) and the availability of community (we can have dinner at the common house or garden with a neighbor, but we don’t have to). It provides a comfortable, well-known community where neighbors won’t be invasive but are happy to see us when we want to wander by and have a chat.</blockquote>
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It is a key part of the cohousing concept that you have your own space: not just a room, but a kitchen, bathroom, living room of your own, separate from other households (getting away from a partner, family or housemates might be a different issue, but not a unique one to cohousing). When you’ve had as much of others as you can take, you go home. And you don’t worry about it, because they’re right there next door, or down the street tomorrow and the day after, when you’ve recharged.<br />
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Part of the appeal for me is that when I do spend time with others, it will often be with a common goal and task. Not just interacting with others for a chat, though that happens too, but creating a meal together, or a garden, learning from others and teaching others, seeing what can be achieved as a group.<br />
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Of course, this is all hypothetical for me at the moment, as we are still in the development stage. I know people from meetings and socials, but not from working and living next to them day after day. But of all the things that I think are concerns about the project, the principle of socialising isn’t one of them.<br />
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<a href="http://www.twitter.com/@hesterkw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT17y6ZbvH2mzXFMjQWAxz0Sdwi1a9oqj4VJoOmYXA2OIyvh496QaEYycl6jJRM-YZDFxRTfrSl4j9tx3VK2QH7ZbqXyoTbWyn5coD2tHvg2dGDYsEA3qMAAXMjL3j3kFwaj-u9jVufU8/s1600/PersonLogoHester.png" /></a></div>
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Written by Hester </div>
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