{"id":393144,"date":"2026-01-27T12:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T12:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/393144\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T12:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T12:46:12","slug":"meet-the-architects-kickstarting-a-small-sites-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/393144\/","title":{"rendered":"meet the architects kickstarting a small sites revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the AJ last spoke to Charlie de Bono<\/a> in late 2019, the South West-based architect and director of self-build enabler LivedIn Custom Build had just helped architect Project Orange secure planning approval for a community of a dozen self-build homes in Ingoldisthorpe, Norfolk \u2013 a relative rarity in the\u00a0UK.<\/p>\n

Currently, only around 8 per cent of the nation\u2019s homes are self-build or custom-build<\/a>. In countries including Germany, Italy, Belgium, Poland and Australia almost half of new homes are delivered this way.<\/p>\n

The definition of what self-build means is broad. It can include buying the land to build your own home, designing and obtaining planning permission for this home, and even building it yourself \u2013 though it is more likely you will hire a builder to do this. The process can either be carried out as an individual or as part of a group or community. <\/p>\n

The now-completed bespoke coastal community at Ingoldisthorpe is a mould-breaking scheme of 12 custom homes, two of which are designated \u2018affordable\u2019. LivedIn took it to planning while Project Orange drew up the design code and later worked with each future homeowner to craft a personal design. <\/p>\n

De\u00a0Bono believes the model \u2013 smaller scale, more custom, and designed with the community alongside \u2013 could be redeployed elsewhere as an antidote to volume housebuilders and as an alternative way of tackling the country\u2019s housing emergency.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the AJ headed west to Stroud in Gloucestershire, home of LivedIn\u2019s sister company, Gloucestershire-based Millar + Howard Workshop Architects, for the launch of LivedIn\u2019s Cohort One. <\/p>\n

This grouping brings together architects, landowners\/sites and prospective homeowners to roll out a nationwide wave of custom, self-built and community-backed homes. <\/p>\n

Could this be, as one participant quipped, \u2018self-build on steroids\u2019?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Completed self-build homes at Ingoldisthorpe, Norfolk. Photo: Charlie de Bono<\/p>\n

From pilot to proposition<\/p>\n

Ingoldisthorpe completed in 2023, four years after de Bono\u2019s interview with the AJ. At the time, he described how Millar + Howard Architects was experimenting with a more intentional, less overbearing, site-specific way of delivering\u00a0housing.<\/p>\n

LivedIn handled feasibility, planning, infrastructure, dealings with the site\u2019s landowner, and sales for the community-focused initiative, while Project Orange worked on a design framework that allowed planners and prospective homeowners to envisage what their new homes could look like.<\/p>\n

Homeowners could choose from a range of predetermined colours and materials before initiating their self-build. <\/p>\n

\u2018In hindsight, this idea of \u201ccontrolled difference\u201d is one of the most transferable aspects of the project,\u2019 says de Bono. \u2018Architects can add enormous value by designing frameworks rather than finished outcomes, especially on small, sensitive\u00a0sites.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kenworthy Road, Alexander Hills Architects. Photo: Alexander Hills Architects<\/p>\n

Alex Hills, founder of London-based studio Alexander Hills Architects, which is part of Cohort One, tells the AJ that he sees the Ingoldisthorpe model not as a \u2018grand strategy\u2019 but as an ongoing experiment.<\/p>\n

\u2018The lack of pressure for it to be the next big thing actually gives it room to become one,\u2019 says Hills. \u2018It focuses the vision on\u00a0action\u2019.<\/p>\n

Why this works<\/p>\n

LivedIn\u2019s co-founder, architect Tom Howard, tells the AJ that practices on board Cohort One will benefit from his team\u2019s experience in getting self-build and custom homes through planning and then built. Indeed, Ingoldisthorpe is the outfit\u2019s fourth such project.<\/p>\n

LivedIn says it will take responsibility for weighing up the viability of more than 100 sites put forward by the 24 practices involved in Cohort One, using an in-house AI tool or \u2018appraisal platform\u2019.<\/p>\n

LivedIn will then work with the architects to secure permission in principle \u2013 at which point the landowner will pay LivedIn a \u2018success fee\u2019. It will then work with the landowner and future occupiers to deliver the homes.<\/p>\n

Self-build can mean many things, but Howard imagines development happening in three main ways: a landowner-pay-as-you-go approach with an architect drawing up an overall design code and then individual plots being sold off to be developed, as with the Norfolk project; an architect-as-developer route; or a landowner, such as a community land trust, which contracts with a self-build group which, in turn, collaborates with the architect \u2013 not dissimilar to Barefoot Architects\u2019 work on Hazelmead in Dorset<\/a>, which the AJ\u2019s Fran Williams described as \u2018a DIY utopia\u2019.<\/p>\n

Why architects are paying attention<\/p>\n

Barefoot\u2019s Sam Goss, who was at Cohort One\u2019s launch, told the room full of architects that what resonated with people who\u2019d seen Hazelmead was its ingredients and flavour. <\/p>\n

\u2018Hazelmead is the sourdough that everybody wants,\u2019 he said. \u2018They are fed up with a sliced bread. It tastes like shit. When people go to Hazelmead, they think: \u201cyum, yum, yum. I want all of this\u201d. Really, it\u2019s inspired me so much. It\u2019s inspired other people.<\/p>\n

\u2018This is an incredibly potent opportunity to deliver more of these projects faster, more smoothly, better, without some of the pain that\u2019s gone through, because this is like a self-build on\u00a0steroids.\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s for these kind of reasons that Archio founding director Kyle Buchanan is interested in pushing community-backed, custom and self-build housing. His practice, co-founded with Mellis Haward, is another one of the 24 architects interested in LivedIn\u2019s\u00a0offer.<\/p>\n

He tells the AJ: \u2018If you put an architect-designed scheme next to a housebuilder-led one, the difference is huge. One feels like it could be anywhere. The other feels like a place.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s also about architects bringing their skills to the housing market in a more intelligent way, and delivering public benefit at the same time.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Archio\u2019s Citizens House in south-east London<\/p>\n

Buchanan should know. Archio\u2019s 11-home Citizens House<\/a> in south-east London, a London RIBA Award winner, was another victory for the community land trust (CLT) model of housebuilding (and that is perhaps why LivedIn originally approached the practice).<\/p>\n

Members of London CLT, the client in this case, voted the practice in to co-design the project, which they, as owner and developer, have a meaningful stake in.<\/p>\n

Risk and reward<\/p>\n

Al Scott, co-founder of architecture practice IF_DO, agrees that custom and self-build is an opportunity for both architects and communities to work together to counter the lookalike mediocrity of housebuilder homes and create positive change \u2013 even though, he says, \u2018it\u2019s about as hard as it\u2019s ever been\u2019 to be an architect and particularly an architect-developer.<\/p>\n

\u2018Normally the focus is on how we\u2019re not building enough homes, but do we really want more of the rubbish we are seeing?\u2019 he asks. <\/p>\n

\u2018So to focus on new homes as the vehicles for creating stronger communities is inspiring \u2013 this is where the focus should be.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Visualisation of prototype housing by IF_DO. Credit: IF_DO<\/p>\n

Participation in Cohort One will involve some unpaid work at an early stage, and a proportional success fee will be due following planning. But Scott says the main risk to his practice concerns time. <\/p>\n

\u2018The commercial risk of being an architect-developer in the first instance is mainly time. This is finding sites and speaking to landowners \u2014 but with procurement as it is, we risk time anyway to win work, so why not do this?\u2019<\/p>\n

He adds: \u2018Once planning is secured in principle, the site is massively de-risked, and the architect is in a much stronger position to persuade the landowner and create a viable\u00a0project.\u2019<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/p>\n

So, what did the AJ learn in Stroud? If nothing else, that the state of mass volume house-building \u2013 and the lack of housing \u2013 means there is an opportunity for architects to work on smaller, more community-led housing\u00a0schemes.<\/p>\n

The signposts and ingredients already exist thanks to completed project such as Ingoldisthorpe, Citizens House and Hazelmead. <\/p>\n

They show that self-build and custom homes offer a route back to relevance at a moment when both housing delivery and professional morale are under\u00a0strain.<\/p>\n

The words \u2018optimism\u2019 and \u2018optimistic\u2019 were aired several times during the day at the Cohort One launch, and the platform is just one organised effort at addressing a clear need for good homes.<\/p>\n

Archio\u2019s Buchanan summed things up with this reaction to the prospect of more well-designed housing: \u2018It\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve heard somebody talk positively about the future potential of what we do as architects for a very long time. That\u2019s very inspiring.\u2019<\/p>\n

Image, top: Completed self-build homes at Ingoldisthorpe, Norfolk. Photo: Charlie de Bono<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the AJ last spoke to Charlie de Bono in late 2019, the South West-based architect and director…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[147891,147892,6225,6485,6486,147893,147894,1120,96,147895,124337,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-393144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-alex-hills","9":"tag-archio","10":"tag-arts","11":"tag-arts-and-design","12":"tag-artsanddesign","13":"tag-barefoot-architects","14":"tag-custom-build","15":"tag-design","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-livedin-custom-build","18":"tag-self-build","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}