Archio is thrilled to have recently featured in two articles discussing community-led housing and community engagement. We are hugely passionate about involving the local community in the design process. We wrote a blog article about this in 2016 and it still remains one of our core values.

Our London Community Land Trust project, which recently received planning permission, is the first of its kind in Lewisham. The local community were instrumental in forming the project brief. We started the project by running a 2-day community design workshop. The objective of which was to take the start of the design process out of the office and onto the site. In doing this we were aiming to have conversations with local people that you just can’t have if you are sitting in the office. This event was one of many and facilitated the formation of a Community Steering Group. We decided to document the process in a short film, click here to view. 

For architects, CLTs bring new design challenges. The sites are often complex, says Mellis Haward, of Archio, who worked on the Brasted Close CLT scheme in Lewisham. The pre-determined prices of the homes also affect the design process, she explains, ‘As architects, we can’t add any monetary value by making them [the homes] bigger or better. The budget is tight and it won’t ever go up. But there is a clear social benefit that is motivating.’ - The Architects Journal, March 2019.

See the articles in full below:
'How to get housing through planning: collaborate with the locals' -  BD, September 2018.
'Vote for your architect: The new way to win work' -  The AJ, March 2019.

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