Cannock Mill Cohousing

A mutually supportive cohousing group in Essex, England, in process of building

An inspiring group of older people building 23 new homes, a mixture of one and two-bedroom flats and two and three-bedroom houses.

They write, “We love the architectural and ecological quality of the designs and how they make the best use of the Mill, its pond and the setting. The houses will have living green roofs, and are being built in timber frame cassettes with recycled newspaper insulation. Flooring is in renewable bamboo, and outside they will be finished with lime render in different natural mineral colours, so will never require repainting. They are designed to Lifetime Homes space standards, to provide accessible and adaptable homes of the future. The physical focus of our cohousing project is the common house. In Cannock Mill itself, dating from 1611, we have a fantastic existing base for all our common house activities. Its renovation gives us well-thought-out spaces: a professionally planned kitchen opening into a flexible dining room/meeting room; a comfortable sitting room/library, which might get cleared for dancing! On the ground floor will be guest bedrooms (helpful for those who are downsizing but still need extra space for visitors) and workshops. Some of our members are even looking forward to the restored mill pond being suitable for wild swimming.”