By Christine Vennard

THIS is the story of a group Glasgow residents – of all ages, including families, couples and single households – who are negotiating with the city council to secure a plot of land, to allow us to build our own cohousing community.

As a sign of our commitment, we have taken equity stakes in the project – beginning at £1,000, soon enough expected to rise to around £8,000 – because lawyers, architects and topographical surveys don’t come cheap.

Cohousing is a particular form of community-led and co-operative housing. It is not communal living; instead, it is about people having their own homes, but there are shared resources.

Cohousing projects – of which there are several in England, barely any in Scotland, and probably hundreds, if not thousands, on continental Europe – usually have a common house (for meeting and eating), some form of shared food growing and potentially shared cars and tools.

The sharing culture is two-fold: there is an ecological dimension (saving on resources) and also a community cohesion one.

Cohousing is about residents designing and then managing their own housing. Pure and simple.

And the national organisation, Cohousing Scotland, along with us at Clachan Cohousing, is showcasing the idea this evening, from 6.30 pm, at the Quaker Meeting House, on Elmbank Crescent. It’s free to attend and will provide us with an opportunity to recruit possible new members.

My own interest in cohousing goes back 40 years, when I was a member of a faith group, trying to put into action justice and peace issues. That light has not dimmed in the decades since.

So, when Clachan started coming together, six years ago, both my husband and I jumped at the opportunity.

We don’t expect the land we have spied – in north Maryhill – to be donated. As we understand it, it has been earmarked for three schemes: some self-build housing plots (like elsewhere in Maryhill, as recently featured on Channel 4’s Grand Designs), food growing (there are high-rises nearby, with a real desire from the residents to connect with the soil) and cohousing.

We need to recruit, because our plans imagine 16-18 households. It will be funded via a model called a Mutual Home Ownership Society. An MHOS is about a single body (in our case, Clachan) being responsible for the mortgage and residents pay monthly towards their share of the build costs, which converts to equity which can be withdrawn when they leave.

We are all committed to making MHOS work, to such an extent that at least some of the housing will be relatively affordable, inspired by LILAC in Leeds (the clue is in the name: Low Impact Living Affordable Community), who have been a great support, as a source of advice and wisdom.

Cohousing is about neighbourliness. It should be mainstream, albeit to join Clachan will involve both parties (prospective residents and us) effectively interviewing each other. We need to ensure we are a good fit for each other. It’s about a common purpose and shared values.

Christine Vennard is a member of Clachan Cohousing