Living Intentionally. Building Together.
Sustainable Housing (SH) was a pioneering community living project in Old Moat, Manchester. Emerging from a period of deep questioning and personal transformation, it was founded with a simple mission: to explore how people could live more sustainably, more cooperatively, and more meaningfully in daily life.
Supported by Action for Sustainable Living (AfSL) and funded by the Big Lottery Fund, the project brought together like-minded individuals who shared a vision of low-impact, community-oriented living. At its height, SH housed nine tenants across two properties, modelling a different way of life rooted in shared values, personal development, and environmental responsibility.
Our Vision To support individuals in building abundant, healthy lifestyles while reducing environmental impact. We believed that small changes, made together, could ripple out into something much greater.
How We Lived Tenants committed to:
- Sharing meals and buying food in bulk, prioritising local, seasonal produce
- Reducing utility usage and waste through simple behaviour changes
- Gardening, composting, growing food, and building an outdoor kitchen for communal use
- Living without excess, while cultivating creativity, intention, and mutual support
Our community café (serving locally baked bread and beer), jam sessions, shared meals, and open movie nights were all expressions of our deeper goal: to foster real community from the ground up.
Education and Outreach Sustainable Housing was not just about how we lived, but about inviting others in. We hosted workshops, open days, and social evenings for neighbours, students, and curious passersby. These weren’t polished events — they were real opportunities to connect, share, and learn.
Why It Mattered SH was a prototype for something bigger: a self-sustaining, low-cost, values-led model of community living. It was built by volunteers, powered by relationships, and refined by lived experience.
It was about personal growth just as much as carbon footprints. We supported each other in learning new skills — from cooking to conflict resolution — and made space for critical reflection, emotional maturity, and personal responsibility.
Values We Lived By
- Community over isolation
- Co-operation over consumption
- Practical sustainability over empty theory
- Mutual aid over dependency
- Simplicity with purpose
What We Learned Community cannot be engineered, but it can be cultivated. Structures matter — shared meals, agreements, feedback loops. But more than anything, it requires people committed to living out their values, even when it’s hard.
Sustainable Housing was never about perfection. It was about the ongoing, imperfect work of trying to live differently — together.
Legacy Though the project eventually came to a close, it planted seeds: some tenants went on to start their own initiatives. Others took what they learned into housing, food systems, education, or family life. And the philosophy — that sustainability starts with how we live together — continues to inform much of my work today.
If you’re interested in forming something like this in your own context — or if you’re just tired of living in a way that doesn’t feel right — know this: it’s possible. It takes work. But it’s possible.
— David Schofield Founder, Sustainable Housing
