On Friday, 15 July 2016 LSE London hosted a one-day seminar about scaling up alternative housing development in London. With a new Mayor in office, this was the right time for a constructive conversation about enabling non-mainstream models that represent social, technological and/or financial innovations. These include co-housing, custom-build, volumetric construction and new-build for young professionals. The event was a culmination of two years of LSE knowledge-exchange activities around London’s housing crisis and subsequent recommendations about how the capital could benefit more from alternative housing.

    
A select group of borough officers from across London, GLA representatives, members of community-led housing groups, ‘niche’ developers and London-based alternative-housing researchers came together to discuss the factors that enable or constrain alternative housing.

Speakers

• Michaela Benson | Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Goldsmiths

• James Hudson | PhD Candidate in Geography, UCL

• Melissa Fernández and Kath Scanlon | LSE London

• Alastair Parvin | Co-founder of Wikihouse

• Lucie Olivier & Andrew Partridge | Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners

• Maria Brenton | OWCH project consultant & UKCN board member

• Nick Harrison | Land Director, The Collective

• Marc Vlessing | Founder and CEO, Pocket Living

• Rob Hall | Head of Business Development, L&G Homes

• Jeff Endean & Osama Shoush | Housing Strategy & Programmes Manager, LB Lewisham

• James Simpson | Housing Strategy and Enabling Team, LB Hackney

• Alan Benson | GLA

• Kareem Dayes | RUSS

The event was held at the inaugurated PLACE / Ladywell site as an example of innovative construction methods and an alternative solution to temporary accommodation. A short film about this scheme, produced by LSE London and directed by Louise Boer, was launched after lunch.

Film

PLACE making: A modular approach to London’s housing shortage

Site visit

We later visited RUSS’s Church Grove CLT site to explore other kinds of projects that are possible, and the opportunities for and limits to expansion or replication.

Click here for more information about the Rural Urban Synthesis Society (RUSS).

Event Documents

• Programme
• Briefing paper
• Presentations
  • Where’s the social in selfbuild? – M. Benson
  • Growing old together: senior cohousing and successful ageing in the city – J. Hudson
  • The economics of cohousing – M. Fernández & K. Scanlon
  • Enabling diversity in housing supply – J. Endean
  • PLACE / Ladywell – L. Olivier & A. Partridge
  • WikiHouse: #NewNormal – A. Parvin
• PLACE making film
• Alternative housing development in London: Findings and key action points

Related LSE London research

• ESRC Report – Cohousing: Shared Futures
• HEIF 5 Report – Accelerating housing production in London: Main findings
• HIEF 5 Report – Housing in London: Addressing the supply crisis
• Report by M. Fernaández Arrigoitia – Islington Park Street Community: A model for alternative housing in London
• LSE Report for Sutton Trust – Home Advantage: Housing the young employed in London
• Journal Article: Development of new cohousing: lessons from a London scheme for the over-50s
• HIEF 5 Research stream: Housing in London: Addressing the supply crisis – Alternative Housing