What if London’s housing future lay in the hands of local people? With rents soaring and a shortage of secure homes, two Lewisham communities found a solution. Here’s what we learned on our recent field trip.
Tucked away in Sydenham is the first direct development by the London Community Land Trust (London CLT). Turning abandoned garages into lifelong homes, Citizens House provides 11 permanently affordable homes, designed by architects Archio and co-created with local people, hard fought after years of grassroots campaigning and organising for the land.
Oliver Bulleid, Executive Director of London CLT, opened with a stark reminder of the city’s housing challenge: “London spends around £5 million a day on temporary accommodation — money that doesn’t solve the problem. Community-led projects like this show we can do things differently.”
Lewisham Citizens — the local chapter of Citizens UK, bringing together schools, faith groups and community organisations — has long pushed for genuinely affordable homes in the borough.
The project took off when Lewisham Citizens, working with London CLT, pinpointed Lewisham as an area in urgent need. They walked the borough street by street, scouting overlooked plots that could serve the community. When they approached the council, a small, neglected garage site behind the Brasted Close estate was offered on a long lease for £1. It looked unpromising, but the team quickly recognised its potential to become something of real community value.
Janet Emmanuel, Communities Manager at the London Community Land Trust and community organiser with Citizens UK, spoke about the early stages of the project and how residents came together to shape a shared vision for the site. Through a series of public workshops, residents helped set priorities for design and affordability. The community chose Archio through a participatory selection process.
From the outset, residents were involved in every key decision: selecting the architects and builders; shaping the site layout by moving physical blocks in workshops; choosing the project’s name and even defining who should be eligible to buy the homes. The result is a set of homes that reflect the people who made them possible — key workers and long-time locals with deep roots in the area.
Mellis Howard of Archio explained how community input directly shaped the design “We ran a series of hands-on workshops where residents could experiment with materials and move around building blocks to shape the estate as they wanted it to be.”
Residents were clear they wanted a safe pedestrian route through the site, with secure bike parking and shared outdoor space that encouraged neighbourly connection. In response, the scheme introduces a new walkway linking the estate, south-facing homes that maximise light, and generous staggered balconies that make it easy for neighbours to talk to one another.
This attention to design is matched by a commitment to affordability-in-perpetuity. Completed in 2023, Citizens House provides 11 flats sold at a price linked to average local incomes roughly 65% of typical market rates, ensuring long-term affordability and preventing speculative resale. Janet noted that she recently spoke to a council officer, who said: “If Lewisham Citizens hadn’t taken it on, it would still be an empty, unsafe space.”
Church Grove: building a sustainable neighbourhood together
In Ladywell, the Church Grove project by the Rural Urban Synthesis Society (RUSS) offers a different but equally inspiring model of community-led housing. Founded in 2009, RUSS is a volunteer-led community land trust that empowers residents to design, build, and manage affordable homes together. Its mission is to create sustainable neighbourhoods that combine affordability with strong social connection.
With 36 affordable-in-perpetuity homes in a mix of tenures, 12 Church Grove is London’s largest community-led self-build housing project — and a powerful example of what can be achieved when residents take an active role in shaping where they live.
Planning permission was granted in 2018, and by 2024 residents had begun moving into homes they helped design, build, and finish themselves. Eleanor Margolies, a resident and former RUSS Managing Director, described the process. “All the flats were handed over with bare plastered walls and concrete floors,” she said. “Some residents opted to install their own kitchens, or even to fit out with partition walls and ceilings, plumbing and wiring. It meant we could finish them as we wanted, using sustainable materials and avoiding waste.”
This hands-on approach created a strong sense of collaboration, with residents sharing skills, tools and support throughout the build. The result was more than housing: a self-sufficient community shaped by its own ideas — from shared facilities like the laundry room, community hub, guest room and edible garden to day-to-day maintenance organised collectively via a WhatsApp group.
Anurag Verma, Chair of RUSS, reflected on the project’s wider vision: “We think of sustainability not just in environmental terms, but economic and social ones too. Integrating the community, into the design and management of Church Grove, has resulted in a variety of apartment types and affordable tenures. It’s about creating a community with the flexibility to look after itself in the long term”.
Even the design of the buildings reflects this ethos. The two main blocks are linked by a bridge to reduce the need for additional lifts and lower costs. Green roofs, solar panels, and shared outdoor spaces promote low-carbon living, while flexible communal areas encourage residents to meet and grow food. As the community has grown, so have its shared amenities — outdoor spaces now include a play area and garden designed for all ages, welcoming both children and adults for play, rest, and socialising.
Lessons learned from Lewisham’s community-led development
Citizens House and Church Grove demonstrated that community-led housing is not just idealistic — it is a viable and effective model for addressing London’s housing challenges. Both projects prove that when local people are empowered to lead, it is possible to deliver homes that are affordable, sustainable, and deeply connected to place.
“If every borough found three sites like Citizens House, we’d have over thousand genuinely affordable homes across London” noted Oliver Bulleid of the London Community Land Trust.
Together, these projects illustrate a practical way to build homes with future residents involved at every stage. They stand as proof that with the right support and trust, communities can create housing designed not just to help people survive, but to help them thrive.
Find out more about our Homes for the Future project.
Homes for the Future is supported by Countryside Partnerships, Montagu Evans, Pollard Thomas Edwards, Trowers & Hamlins and Common Projects
