Your Leeds LILAC
Sophie Haydock discovers an environmental economical housing scheme in Leeds
Your Leeds: LILAC
If you make a house from straw, it’s got to end in tears. That’s what happened to the three little pigs. Their efforts were futile and the house was blown down.
Thank goodness a pioneering co-operative in Leeds, LILAC, isn’t taking that fairy tale to heart. They’re set to build a community of affordable, sustainable houses - and the integral building material is the humble bale of straw.
LILAC aims to be one of the first of its kind. It’s all there in the title - LILAC stands for Low Impact Living Affordable Community - and that’s exactly what they are about, building affordable, sustainable homes, with a focus on community and living a low energy lifestyle. There are currently six members involved in the project, who describe themselves as sharing an interest in “growing food, sustainable living, socialising, eating, cooking together and exploring the great outdoors on foot and bike!”
LILAC’s plan is to build a community of 20 homes on an acre of land in West Yorkshire. They say: “For us, LILAC is an urgent project to build for a number of reasons. It is a response to the huge shortage of affordable housing, to the urgent need for new homes to be more environmentally sustainable, to protect our resources in the face of climate change and energy scarcities, and to build a beautiful, safe neighbourhood where people come first and have direct power over how their neighbourhood is run.”
The homes will be built in the most sustainable way possible: cement free for a start (around 7% of global carbon emissions are generated from cement production). And this is where the straw bales come in - they will be used in abundance in the walls, as insulation from our cold Yorkshire evenings. This will result in over 12 tonnes of carbon being locked away in the construction process, whereas a conventionally-built home produces around 50 tonnes of carbon during construction. Obviously LILAC will also use natural and locally sourced building materials, as well as making the most of solar energy, water recycling and minimising energy use and loss. They will work towards being carbon neutral or carbon zero as soon as possible - returning to the national grid as much power as they use over the course of a year.
Another key aspect is the emphasis on community interaction. “LILAC isn’t just about building houses, it’s about building a sense of community. We want all residents to feel they are part of a strong flourishing neighbourhood where they can directly participate and their views matter.” The design is based around the Danish co-housing model, which mixes peoples’ needs for their own space in private homes with shared facilities in a co-house. There will be communal cooking and eating facilities, laundry facilities, meeting space, play area, office and health space. “The project will create a beautiful living environment, which will maximise green spaces, areas for food production and social interaction.”
And, perhaps most significantly, the one, two, three and four bedroom homes will be affordable. “Building a neighbourhood that is affordable and accessible is a real priority for us. There is much talk of a crisis of affordability in terms of housing. House prices are still much higher than average earnings. And the government has highlighted the need to build 70,000 affordable homes per year by 2011.”
But really, it all boils down to low impact living. It is at the heart of LILAC. It simply means to live as lightly as possible on the earth. The LILAC members say, “Just as important to us is how all the residents can work towards low impact living in their daily lives, by avoiding unnecessary consumption and travel, excessive energy use in the home and looking to the local area to provide as much as possible. Reducing human impact on the ecology of the planet has become an urgent task in face of climate change - and it is a task that starts with every one of us and how we live.”
With priorities like this, let’s hope LILAC get a happy ever after…
For more information visit http://www.lilac.coop
Posted on Thursday 1st January 1970
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