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Dream house promises gentle revolution

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Summary of story from The Guardian, October 14, 2011

Alison Cahn recently put down a deposit on her dream home, and joined a gentle revolution.

Her home, when it’s built, will be part of one of the largest Passivhaus developments in Europe.

And it will not just be sustainable in building terms, but also in human terms, encouraging the daily social contact growing research says is key to mental health and happiness.

It is on the Lancaster Cohousing development, part of the growing ‘cohousing movement’ that is big in Scandinavia and the USA and is now catching on in the UK.

Each member of the project will live in their own, private eco-home in the midst of communal facilities that both save resources and encourage the creation of community.

Another element that is really special is how the buildings have been created.

She, like everyone else in the project, committed to giving at least three hours a week to bring it to fruition, and “task and finish” groups cover everything from transport to soft landscaping.

And, rather than being customers, they were the creators and developers of the project: finding a brownfield site, getting planning permission, appointing architects and builders, inputting into the design and overseeing the development.

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