This is London’s first co-housing scheme. Our clients chose to pursue a more communal approach providing companionship and mutual support. The six households share activities and space: a hall, workshop, laundry and gardens. The design strategy was to maximise external space and to develop a building type that manifests the idea of communality. The resulting “cluster” model places a court at the heart of the site, beneath which the communal facilities are located and around which, the six houses are laid out. The four 3-storey houses are clad in untreated vertical timber boards, the two 2-storey houses in brick. The performance of the building fabric – insulation, air tightness, and heat recovery ventilation – plays a vital role. The scheme creates a continuous perimeter of communal gardens which offer varied growing conditions and atmospheres.