The timber-framed community ‘hub’, which will sit alongside the RUSS affordable self build project in Church Grove, Ladywell, is taking shape.
The timber frame has gone up with the help of volunteer labour that is being closely managed by RUSS’ construction partner, Habitat for Humanity,
RUSS is the community land trust behind the innovative 33 home, affordable self-build project and the separate ‘hub’ building. Both projects gained full planning consent during 2018.
Site mobilisation, groundworks, foundations and floor deck for the ‘hub’are complete, with work underway on the walls during the latter part of June 2019.
The innovative roof, fit-out and access routes will be undertaken from July 2019.
The modest ‘hub’ budget was crowd-funded as well as supported in part by the Ladywell Assembly, along with donations of some building materials from corporate partners. Once fully complete in late summer 2019, the single-storey building will provide meeting space for the RUSS ‘School’ – where we share our experience of self-and-community building – along with a resource and space for the wider community.
The ‘hub’ has a short construction programme, timed to accommodate the start of the main 33-home residential project.
RUSS aim to mobilise the main residential project and undertake whole site preparation from August 2019, with initial groundworks being phased in the late summer and early autumn 2019.
The residential development will provide all-affordable homes of various sizes and tenures, providing opportunities for the future residents to self-build various aspects of the development, in conjunction with our main contractor.
RUSS has worked hard to ensure our project complies with all key statutory requirements and have a development agreement with LB Lewisham, including the provision of a long-lease of the Church Grove site.
RUSS’s Annual General Meeting is on June 23 2019. In addition to covering the necessary ‘business’, past and present activities and future vision of RUSS as an organisation will be shared.
All details of RUSS can be found at https://www.theruss.org/
1 comment
This project is a complete sham at every level. Self-build? A 4/5 storey building – really? Affordable? Properties cost the same as similar in the area – yes, you can purchase just 20% but then have to pay the rest of the value in rent. More importantly, the place is a fire risk death trap. It will be a wooden building, with wooden cladding and balconies (just like the Barking flats that recently caught fire), at the end of a street that is too narrow for fire engine access. The developers have consistently refused to hold discussion with the London Fire Brigade, just keep saying “When the time is right,” i.e. when they’ve built most of it, making it difficult for LFB to block the project. They also promised the existing Church Grove community – an actual community, as opposed to the one RUSS claims it’s going to create – a bridge over the river to avoid large lorries causing destruction down the street. That never happened of course so now there are huge lorries squeezing down the street on a daily basis, travelling on the pavement and a couple of days ago ripping out the BT lines after hitting a telegraph pole.