Bridport Cohousing: The Gold Standard for Healthy Homes?
If you were to design the perfect community, what would it look like? It would be safe, spacious, and sustainable. It would have homes filled with natural light, built to last, and designed to evolve with their residents. It would be affordable, efficient, and - above all, genuinely liveable. That’s exactly what our community-led project for Bridport Cohousing CLT, ‘Hazelmead’ has achieved. It has recently been shortlisted for a prestigious riba, and a Pineapple award - under the Healthy Homes category, and so this week we focus on the 12 standards of a Healthy Home and how the project responds to them.
Bridport Cohousing is the largest cohousing project in the UK. It follows the AECB Building Standard and many of the Lifetime Homes Standards, ensuring that every detail supports a healthier, more connected way of living. Here’s how it measures up to the 12 principles of a healthy home:
Fire Safety: Peace of Mind Built In
For a site with car free streets, achieving emergency vehicle access presented more challenges than on a standard car-centric residential layout. All of the hoggin ‘streets’ have been designed to withstand the weight of a fire truck or ambulance, with access to the houses limited for such circumstances as emergencies. The flats are sprinklered for additional fire safety of the residents. The homes are built with fire resisting construction, interlinked smoke alarms, and easy access to safe outdoor spaces. Achieving the myriad benefits of car free streets required an extra layer of care in respect of fire safety.
Liveable Space: Room to Breathe
Forget cramped, cookie-cutter housing. These homes exceed minimum space standards, offering open-plan layouts, built-in storage, and adaptable spaces. Not only that, but the cohousing model provides additional spaces to individual homes with a common house including extra facilities available to each of the private homes within the community. The floor to ceiling heights are particularly noticeable - exceeding the modern standard to create homes that feel airy and voluminous! Open stairwells with vaulted ceilings create a sense of generosity and light. The result? Homes that feel spacious, comfortable, and designed for real life.
Inclusive, Accessible, and Adaptable: A Home for Life
For a steeply sloping site, Hazelmead feels deceptively level! We carefully planned the streets so that they follow the contours of the site - creating level access between parking areas, cycle storage and the homes. Although it wasn’t a requirement at the time, the homes meet most of the Lifetime Homes Standards. Step-free access, wide doorways, and adaptable layouts mean that whether you’re young, old, or somewhere in between, the homes can grow with you. Beyond the design of the homes themselves, it is the community that this development has forged which is providing support within a caring group of neighbours who each know everyone on the site! Young and old are able to support one-another in a way which is both life enhancing and priceless.
Natural Light: Designed for Well-being
The homes were all positioned to soak in as much daylight as possible - facing almost due south. Very large windows flood rooms with natural light, cutting down on artificial lighting and boosting mental well-being. This was one aspect of the project which was fundamental to the community led nature of the brief and design. The prospective residents were braver, bolder and much more ambitious in their brief than any standard affordable housing development. Living rooms and dining spaces have low window sills, so that when seated (particularly helpful for older resident), you can see out to the rear gardens, or wider landscape beyond. This simple feature makes the homes feel quietly special.
Cutting Carbon Emissions: Smart, Sustainable Living
The development has been designed to the AECB Building Standard, which could be described as ‘Passivhaus lite’. With super-insulated walls, airtight construction (less than 1.5 air changes/hour/m2), and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR), these all electric homes use a fraction of the energy of a typical house. A radical part of the project is the community microgrid of Photovoltaic panels which cover the entire south facing roofscape of the development and power a huge Battery Energy Storage System. The neighbourhood has formed an Energy Supply Company (ESCO) which sells electricity at a reduced cost the residents. The result? Lower carbon emissions and lower bills. This is helping to eradicate fuel poverty in the development, giving residents peace of mind that they can afford to feel warm and comfortable in their homes.
Access to Amenities Nature and Transport: Location, Location, Location
Bridport Cohousing is perfectly placed within a spectacular landscape setting of the West Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Immediately adjoining the site is Allington Hill - a spectacular natural resource with walking routes, a children’s play area, and woodland planting supported by the Woodland Trust and maintained by the Allington Hillbillies, who are able to store their tools in Hazelmead’s workshop and toolshed. Regular buses into town provide public transport, whilst the nearby town is an easy walk or cycle - facilitated by the many communal bike stores on site. Essential services are all within easy reach. Car parking is kept to a minimum at the perimeter of the site, encouraging residents to walk or cycle. The cohousing residents established a car club scheme to help minimise car ownership. This is urban planning at its best, and a safe place for children to play on the streets outside their homes, or ride their bikes with friends.
Safe from Crime: A Community That Watches Out for You
One of the many benefits of cohousing is that neighbours really know each other, and look out for one another. Walking round the site, evidence of a sense of safety is everywhere. Children and adults leave their bikes unlocked outside of their homes in many instances. With excellent natural surveillance, and a pedestrian-friendly design, crime prevention is built into the very fabric of the community. People know all their neighbours well, and that alone makes the area safer. There is a very real sense of community and mutual care here that is almost impossible to describe.
Climate Resilient: Future-Proofed Living
These homes aren’t just built for today; they’re built for tomorrow. Flood-resistant landscaping on a sloping clay site encompass a range of planted swales, rain gardens, and a seasonal rainwater attenuation ponds. Passive cooling, and high-performance materials ensure resilience against a changing climate. The homes have carefully designed solar shading to the south facing elevations - incorporated in pergola seating features on every home. Sustainable design becomes sociable design. Even in February we saw residents sitting in the sunshine reading a book on their front garden!
Preventing Air Pollution: Clean Air, Healthy Homes
Whole house ‘MVHR’ ventilation systems filter the air continuously, ensuring a fresh and healthy indoor environment. The low-car environment means fewer emissions and better air quality for all. A huge number of trees have been planted on the site - both to the streets themselves to provide future shading, and to an orchard at the top of the site. Surrounded by green space the site provides a tangible sense of clean and healthy living.
Limiting Light and Noise Pollution: A Quiet, Dark Sky Community
As a community led scheme aspiring to higher standards, preventing noise pollution was central to the brief. The homes have been designed to exceed the higher Scottish Building Regulations standard by 2-3dB. Residents note how quiet the homes are; enjoying their ability to play a piano, or even drums without disturbing their neighbours. Those in flats describe how peaceful it is - a rarity in modern homes. The triple glazed windows which do not have to be opened to provide fresh air (due to the MVHR) help to create a really peaceful interior environment. Thoughtfully designed outdoor lighting reduces light pollution, preserving the night sky. The lack of cars on streets entail that often on site all you can hear is birdsong. It is a truly peaceful environment.
Thermal Comfort: Stay Warm in Winter, Cool in Summer
The combination of very high insulation, airtightness, and passive solar design keeps homes at an ideal temperature year-round. Many of the residents have told us of the pure joy of living in a warm, dry, stable home for the first time ever! It has been nothing short of life changing for them. Being comfortable in the extreme weather events we now experience in the UK is a remarkable achievement that through design has been achieved here.
Genuinely Affordable and Secure Homes: Built for People, Not Just Profit
Bridport Cohousing isn’t just about building homes—it’s about creating a stable, affordable community - designed by a group of local people, for people. Prices are well below market rate, and community land trust ownership ensures long-term affordability and security in perpetuity. Perhaps above all else, this project has given people a real sense of power and agency over their homes and lives. It is profoundly impactful hearing residents describe how life enhancing it is to have a secure, affordable home within a community of people who know and support them.