What’s so good about living in a Bright Green Futures Community?
Getting your dream home
Living in a Bright Green Futures community gives you complete control over the design of your own home. Whether you buy a building plot, a semi- or fully-completed home, you’ll have every opportunity to be fully involved in the design process.
A great neighbourhood
You will live with like-minded people who share a common interest for sustainable living and creating community. This is a proactive group of people who don’t shy away from getting their hands dirty to build their own homes and communities. Living in a Bright Green Futures community gives you complete control over the design of your own home. Whether you buy a building plot, a semi- or fully-completed home, you’ll have every opportunity to be fully involved in the design process.
Both communal and private spaces
A communal garden and community room will provide the physical environment underpinning the close-knit community feel. These are places where children can play safely outside, no one feels lonely, where people of different ages and backgrounds come together in the joint desire to create a beautiful and safe space and live in harmony with nature.
In addition to a shared communal garden each home will have its own private outdoor space (garden for houses and balconies for flats), so that it is possible both to be alone and to socialise with neighbours and friends.
Self-build costs less
By building your own home, managing the build, or self-finishing your home, you get a lot of satisfaction and more for your money. Not only can you get exactly what you want, it also costs a lot less. Self-build homes tend to be valued 30% higher than their costs (Source: Buildstore). Not only that, most of our plots are free of stamp duty, building materials are free of VAT, and if you ever intend to sell your home after living in it the profit is free of capital gains tax.
Bright Green Futures removes many of the headaches and challenges of self-building
Many people dream about building their own sustainable home, but the challenge of doing so can be daunting. Building your own home as part of a group of people doing the same makes the whole process much easier. You will give each other support and advice and recommend trades personnel. You may even end up working on each other’s houses, offering your specific skill in exchange for the expertise of someone else who works on your house. You can save money by ordering in bulk and use the material or construction technique that your neighbour has successfully employed. You can share the burden of getting quotes, haggling, researching the usefulness of new building materials and give each other moral support. Not only will you support each other, Bright Green Futures will also guide you to recommended suppliers, building materials and construction firms. We are there to talk to and advise you when you have questions.
Ideal for kids and parents
The communal garden and design of the housing development means that there are important car-free spaces for kids to play safely. Climbing frames, swings and slides as well as a communal BBQ can be part of the communal garden, making it a great space for all. Parenting is so much easier in such an environment, where it is possible to hang out with other parents or to hide away at home, to work at home or to take a break, knowing that your children are in a safe space.
Ideal for people who would like to work from home
Designing your own home can allow you to design your profession into your own home. Whether it is simply an office or a yoga room, treatment room, seminar room, art studio or workshop, when building your own home or asking Bright Green Futures to construct it for you, it is possible to combine the requirements of your work and hobby with the design of your dream home.
Great for friends or large families who want to live close to each-other
Since Bright Green Futures communities are built from scratch it is possible to join with friends or family members, becoming neighbours by jointly buying into the scheme. Some people even choose to build a large house together and split it into 2 flats, perhaps even with a shared second lounge.
A place to get old
Bright Green Futures communities are designed to have a close-knit community feel. Nearly all neighbours know each other in community eco-self-build developments such as the Ashley Vale site in Bristol, on average residents know about 50 or more of their neighbours by name. The UK average is three. A Bright Green Futures community is a place where getting old does not mean feeling isolated, where old and young come together, to join forces to create a great green community.
Other sustainability features
Other beneficial sustainability features may include: communal recycling facilities which remove the headache of taking the waste out once a week and mean that your entrance is free from waste bins. We are hoping to incorporate a car-share, allowing those who do not wish to own a car to have access to a hire car for the odd shopping trip or weekend away. Pedestrian-friendly access road and bike parking mean that the site is safe for cyclists and pedestrians, and for children to play. If demand permits, we can organise a weekly market stall for local and organic food on the communal land. There will also be fruit trees on-site and space available for growing your own veg on site. When designing your own home you can also choose some eco-luxury features, for example a wood-fuelled sauna and hot tub.
Becoming a neighbour of a Bright Green Futures development
If you do not buy a home or plot in a Bright Green Futures development, but live in proximity, you will still benefit. The Bright Green Futures development will attract interesting people into your neighbourhood, people who care. You will also be able to benefit from the safe spaces to play, the communal garden, which is open to all, and some of the sustainability features such as access to a car-share scheme and food stall. International research has shown that eco-villages that follow a similar concept as Bright Green Futures make the areas in which they are built more attractive, which is reflected in the increase in sales value of houses in their neighbourhood. Perhaps you may even have friends or family interested in a Bright Green Futures plot or home: an older child leaving home, a parent wishing to relocate close to your family, or friends interested in living nearby.