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RUSS

“The housing crisis is the single biggest barrier to prosperity, growth and fairness facing Londoners today” – Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London

category: ongoing project

RUSS is a volunteer-led Community Land Trust based in south London. It is committed to delivering socially, environmentally and economically sustainable neighbourhoods where the local community plays a key role in designing, procuring, delivering and managing the homes. But RUSS also has wider ambitions: to demonstrate the success of their model so it can be replicated; and to raise awareness of the value of community-led housing.

background

story

RUSS was set up by direct descendants of two 1980s community-led housing initiatives in Lewisham, led by architect Walter Segal, who devised an innovative modular self-build system. Both are still thriving communities. Now with 800 members, they are on their way to raising the £8.6 million needed for their first project – 33 self-built affordable homes on a 1-acre site in Ladywell, leased from Lewisham Council for a peppercorn rent. It has been co-designed by its future residents, with architecture practice Architype. Volunteers are already on site constructing London’s first training facility for would-be community self-builders, a knowledge hub to share and inspire other communities to embark on affordable housing projects.

what is ft’work doing?

ft’work discovered RUSS on a visit to Walters Way, Walter Segal’s flagship self-built neighbourhood, and was impressed by their ambition to build thriving communities from the bottom up and by their own efforts. Already aware of the success of other community-led housing projects, ft’work was keen to help.

This support is still at an early stage:

help in securing funds for the knowledge hub
suggestions for recording and evaluating RUSS’s work
working with Architype, RUSS’s architects, to produce a Co-design Guide, in which the Ladywell project is to be a case study

“RUSS’s vision is to create sustainable community-led neighbourhoods and truly affordable homes right across London”

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exploration

collaborating

Collaboration is at the core of everything RUSS does. Its members and volunteers share a belief that to work collectively for mutual benefit is the best way to build sustainable communities. This is backed up by extensive research, which shows a strong correlation between people’s sense of autonomy and their well-being. ft’work hopes to collaborate with RUSS to promote their way of working.

rolling it out

campaigning

There is a need for 60,000 new homes in London every year and a chronic shortage of affordable housing. In the Draft New London Plan, Sadiq Khan acknowledges the value of community-led housing and self-build, yet the UK is lagging far behind other parts of Europe, where it is becoming mainstream. ft’work recognises the great potential of the RUSS model and will work to see it replicated as widely as possible.