Sanford is the oldest housing co-op in London.  It was founded at the end of the 1970s and it turned a wasteland into a cosy, green and welcoming environment.  Being a housing co-operative, all the tenants, as members of the co-op, are collectively landlords, and thus responsible for carrying out all the functions of a landlord.  Its members meet regularly at management meetings and periodically through general meetings.

In the co-op, there is a unique sense of community – the rent is very cheap and living conditions are very good.  There are 14 houses, which are each shared by eight to 10 people.  Each person has his/her own room with wash basin, and shares three toilets, a farmhouse kitchen, a shower room and a bathroom.

The street around the co-operative is also very green, as there is an organic garden and a system of ponds built by the members of the co-op a number of years ago.  Unfortunately, it is currently not possible to grow vegetables in the garden as the soil is contaminated.   The co-op’s location was previously a construction site, and members of the co-op are now working out a way to separate the old soil from the new, in order to use the ground as an organic vegetable garden.

The co-op is also currently engaged in a large-scale carbon emissions reduction project they call C60.  The central government’s target is to reduce carbon emissions by 60% by 2050, and housing is one of the major contributors of carbon emissions.  This project is financed by partners like the Energy Saving Trust (EST), energy provider EDF, and others.  It started after a review of long-term maintenance issues that pushed some members to attend a course on environmental technologies, which was partly financed by the EST.

As part of the C60 project, the co-operative replaced their old gas boilers with high efficiency wood pellet boilers.  To facilitate ventilation during the summer, they also installed lots of extra insulation and automatic opening windows in staircases.  They have also moved to a green electricity tariff and fitted solar water heating panels to use the sun’s energy to get hot water.

Photovoltaic panels are used for the garden lights, and they are planning to introduce motion sensors for the outdoor lights.  Further improvements include the replacement of their appliances with high efficiency models, and to switch to localised electricity generation via biomass or wind if either becomes practical on their scale.

Another innovative initiative takes into consideration the need to find bicycle parking spaces for the many keen cyclists in the co-operative.  This need has been combined with the urgent requirement of an open-air stage for the plays that the co-operative has hosted for the past three summers.  The solution has been designed as the Recyclestage, a combined bike shed on the ground and stage on top, made from recycled materials.  The project, however, has not yet been realised and the group is currently looking for funds.

Published April 2008