“We can’t afford to buy a house in London so we’re building our own”

Meet first-time buyers coping with rising London house prices – by moving into build-your-own properties. The average cost of a house in the city was £720,000 last year – far more than anywhere else in the country.

Too big for many Londoners, this created a gap in the market which was filled by a self-build scheme. People have started to move into the community in Ladywell, Lewisham, where all 36 homes are priced capped.

The properties have some rooms – kitchen and bathroom – already installed. Residents then build the rest, with self-build managers, an architect and a carpenter providing training to residents.

And the scheme is proving popular with the waiting time for a property currently at nine YEARS.

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“Building your own home is one of the best feelings you can have”

Rory Wakefield, a musician, is still building his house and is currently working on laying his floors. He bought his flat for around £300,000 a month ago. As a first-time buyer, he was delighted to own a home and says he is a long-time fan of the scheme.

He said: “I wouldn’t have been able to get a house without this scheme. It makes it accessible. I was born and bred in Lewisham and I could never have stayed here without this scheme.

“It’s a very positive scheme. They should definitely do more, they need them. The government just want to put things in to make a quick buck, they don’t really care about helping people.”

Mr Wakefield also liked being able to build parts of the property himself as it gave him more creative freedom.

The 31-year-old added: “I want it to look the way I want it to look. I’m into the philosophy of building a sustainable space and community. That’s why I wanted to get involved.

“I love it. Building your own house is one of the best feelings you can have. You can make it your way. It’s so refreshing.”

The new development consists of 36 homes, took 15 years from conception to completion.

The homes are part of a community land trust, which means they are owned by a non-profit organization that keeps them affordable.

Units are offered in a variety of sizes and durations: full ownership, part-rent-part-buy, London Living tenancy and social tenancy.

Martin Oroyan, 61, moved into his part-rent-part-buy property with his partner and three sons just over a month ago and is absolutely delighted with the community feel.

The ambulance worker declined to say how much he bought the property for, but says he spent 25% of its value.

He said: “We have been involved with this project here in Ladywell since its inception in 2016 and it has been quite an experience. My partner and I were first time buyers and had been trying to get on the ‘ladder’ for a few years. .

“Our three boys were born while living in Forest Hill and we hoped to avoid moving, changing schools and the general upheaval that entails. Without this project, we would not have been able to afford to live in the M25.

“We bought this house in shell form and over the past few weeks we’ve been installing floors, sanding, scraping and painting to transform it into a place full of our past history while making room for our future

“It’s a friendly place to live and wonderfully peaceful. Everyone is supportive and there is a sense of ‘neighborhood’ that has sadly been lost from other urban areas.

“It’s encouraging to know that new residents will have the same opportunity we had in terms of accessibility and be able to create their own stories here like we are now.”

The housing scheme was established by the Rural Urban Synthesis Society (RUSS), which has amassed over 1100 members since its creation.

This has meant that the Ladywell development has a long waiting list.

Couple Pete Bell and Emma Onono moved into their property in April with their eight-year-old son and say the welcoming community is a far cry from their old Adelaide Avenue home.

Emma, ​​48, said: “I applied for the scheme a few years ago. Finally we got an email saying we made it to the top of the list and jumped on it.

“It has a great sense of community. You can’t go from one side to the other without saying hello to someone. Where I lived before, nobody even knew their neighbors.

“We have one with a kitchen in a concrete shell. We built the floors and painted the walls, but that was it. I love it. I absolutely love it. There’s a really nice community.”

“We have an eight-year-old and there are so many kids around here playing. We could never let him out front to play, but now he can. We always have children in our house. it’s great to own and not have to deal with terrible land ladies.”

Pete, 55, says the couple paid just over 50% of the value of their family home at around £300,000 on a £600,000 property.

He added: “I was eight or nine years on the waiting list. It is very popular. We have always rented and were interested in affordable housing.

“I think there should be a lot more of these schemes if they help people get on the property ladder. I don’t see us going any further from here, but it’s great that if we do, it would still be accessible for the next people. .”

“One of the really wonderful things about it I think is that every apartment is really different”

Sydney Thornbury, 57, bought the property outright three months ago, being one of the first to move in.

She decided to take part in the downsizing scheme and says she loves living there.

She said: “We all love it, it’s been fantastic. It was even better than I thought it would be. Not only is this building an incredible testament to what people have accomplished, but so is the community that has been created since going through this process.

“One of the really wonderful things about it I think is that every apartment is really different. They all have a different style or feel to them. I think that sometimes new builds can feel lacking in personality, but these really don’t.”

Miss Thornbury, who has been involved in the project for two years, is very passionate about building more community housing schemes.

She added: “There are better and more affordable ways to live in cities. I think this is the way people should live.

“I think it’s very easy to say ‘this is just a bunch of hippies who put it all together’, but it’s not. There are a lot of people who are really frustrated with the limitations of access to affordable housing.”

Miss Thornbury says she laid her own floors, painted her walls and built her own bespoke kitchen.

The 57-year-old also echoed the idea that there is a great, safe, community feel to the development.

She said: “Parents can leave their doors open and the children can all gather in the yard and play. It’s really awesome because teenagers are playing with little kids. Everyone is there.

“I’m not on their screens. They come home from school and immediately want to go outside and play with their friends and they are safe because we can all hear them.

“My door is open all the time, the neighbors come and I go through theirs. The kids run around and play with my dog. It’s a great atmosphere and you feel like everyone’s values ​​are aligned.”

Anurag Verma, president of RUSS, has been volunteering for the organization for six years and says the final development is even better than he imagined.

He said: “We thought it was a great opportunity to see how a bunch of people could come together and do something of lasting value for our local community and for people struggling to afford homes accessible.

“It’s been a very long journey. I’ve been living and breathing this thing for six years, I’m there at least once or twice a week. I’m very happy with it. I think it’s exceeded all our expectations, to be honest. There’s a such good energy there.

“It worked so well because we already had a community, we just needed buildings.”

As for future plans, he added: “We’re always looking for new sites. There’s still a lot of energy to do more. I think it would be quite a shame to stop at one because there are so of many built-in knowledge in RUSS now on how to develop.

“We’re very keen to do more, but it’s not easy to get access to the land, so that’s one of the big hurdles.”