A New Model of Community: Lessons from "New Ground"

Behind a quiet street in Barnet, north London, sits one of the most influential housing experiments in modern Britain. "New Ground" — officially the Older Women's Co-Housing community — opened in 2016 as the UK's first senior cohousing scheme: 25 flats designed, financed and self-managed by a group of women over fifty who wanted to grow older together, but independently.

What cohousing actually is

Cohousing sits between a conventional development and a commune. Each household owns a self-contained private home — own front door, own kitchen, own bathroom — wrapped around shared spaces: a common house for shared meals, a garden, guest rooms and laundry. Decisions are made collectively, typically by consensus. There is no landlord and no care staff; it is housing, not a care home.

Why New Ground matters

• It proved the model could be financed and delivered in the UK, paving the way for dozens of groups now developing schemes nationwide.
• It directly addresses loneliness — one of the biggest health risks of later life — through design rather than services.
• It showed older women, the demographic most likely to live alone, shaping housing for themselves rather than accepting what the market offered.
• Its architecture, by Pollard Thomas Edwards, won recognition for balancing privacy with community — light-filled private flats around shared gardens.

The economics

Cohousing homes are not cheap housing — New Ground's flats sold at market rates for the area — but they are efficient: shared guest rooms and facilities mean individual homes can be smaller without feeling mean. Resales work like any other home, subject to the community's own criteria for new members. For investors and developers, the lesson is that demand for community-oriented living is real and underserved, from senior cohousing to intergenerational schemes.

What it means for the wider market

New Ground anticipated trends now reshaping mainstream development: shared amenities in build-to-rent blocks, co-living for young professionals, and 'pocket neighbourhoods' championed by planners. As the UK population ages, we expect senior cohousing and community-led housing to move from the margins to a recognised segment — one lenders, planners and valuers are only beginning to catch up with.

At PTT Real Estate we track emerging housing models as part of our investment research, because today's niche is often tomorrow's premium street. If community-led or alternative living interests you — as a resident or an investor — we would be glad to talk it through.