Sharing a house or flat is nothing new so what’s so different about co-living, now an emerging option for like-minded house hunters in the UK following popularity in cities such as Tokyo, San Francisco and New York?

Currently appearing primarily in London but set to grow, co-living is a new build-to-rent product providing compact non self-contained units with communal facilities along lines not dissimilar to the now well-established and successful co-working model led by global brand WeWork.

The pioneering brand for co-living in the UK is The Collective, joined by other players such as Dandi Living, Urbane London and Galliard Homes. The general aim is to deliver an affordable, community and social focused housing alternative to the market akin to student accommodation, albeit usually aimed at young professionals. It offers serviced living, fully furnished accommodation in an all-in-one charge.

While the concept might sound much like an HMO, the quality, increased number of occupants and facilities such as gyms, co-working spaces, cinemas, cafés, kitchens and laundries designed to encourage community spirit and the exchange of ideas means that co-living is considered to fall within a sui generis use class. 

The planning system is having to adapt to this new type of development. There is currently a lack of clear policy and evidence base for co-living. Despite this, the number of schemes that have planning permission, or are in the pipeline, is on the rise in London and beginning to emerge in other cities too.

Co-living is becoming established in a handful of pioneering London boroughs, such as Ealing, Harrow, Tower Hamlets and Wandsworth, where the delivery of operational schemes is now ongoing. There are, however, many boroughs where there is little to no evidence of this happening. In these locations, pursuing a co-living scheme inevitably means greater planning risk and timescales as council members or officers come to terms with the trend.

The draft London Plan seeks to address the policy vacuum on co-living by introducing a policy referred to as ‘Large-Scale Purpose-Built Shared Living’ (draft Policy H18). This is directed at developments of at least 50 units and provides prescriptive guidance particularly on how affordable housing and Community Infrastructure Levy requirements are to be addressed. However, there are very few London boroughs with local planning policies, meaning their approach to co-living currently varies significantly.

There are clear benefits to co-living in terms of meeting an important housing need in a form that supports communities and social interaction. However, it is still in its infancy. Awareness, planning policy and guidance are needed to ensure key issues including quality, management, and affordable housing, are defined. This will give certainty to those promoting schemes, as well as enabling decision makers to assess the acceptability of proposals.

Further information

Contact Savills Planning