Kareem Dayes, co-founder of RUSS in Lewisham, explains why setting up a Community Land Trust was a route to deliver genuinely affordable housing and create a better neighbourhood.
Interview with Kareem Dayes
Kareem Dayes is a one of the founders of the Rural Urban Synthesis Society (RUSS) a members-led Community Land Trust based in South London. Kareem grew up at Walters Way in Lewisham, an innovative self-build housing project developed by Lewisham Council and led by architect Walter Segal in the 1980s.
It was only upon making his own way in life that he realised how special Walters Way was and after living in a housing co-operative he explored the Community Land Trust approach and wondered if a project could create a modern version of Walters Way to meet the challenges people were still facing for affordable housing.
RUSS was founded in 2009 with their 36 new homes completed in 2024. Kareem takes us through the process, their community led approach and the highs and lows along the way.
A Community Land Trust manages community assets for the benefit of local people
A Community Land Trust (CLT) is a charitable organisation set up to steward communal assets for the benefit of the community. It could be a piece of land, a shop, a pub or any community asset managed to create wider community value.
In the context of housing, a piece of land may be gifted or bought, for the creation of affordable houses. The Community Land Trust is the steward of that land and develops it on a non-profit basis to achieve houses for local people at an affordable level. Kareem points out that what makes a Community Land Trust different to a co-operative is that it’s about affordability in perpetuity. There’s a mechanism in place that means the houses don’t go onto the private market, so the people who come in after the first-time buyers still benefit from the original principles.
At RUSS, if you have bought a property, when you sell it you get your money back plus inflation. So no-one is going to profit from any uplift in the market from when they moved in, but they moved in at a price way under the market value for similar houses at that time.
By doing this you are treating housing as a need, an essential part of life, not a commodity that will be an investment. RUSS demonstrates that you can provide affordable housing today and long into the future.
Growing the membership was the starting point
When RUSS was set up in 2009 it was a blue-sky idea, between Kareem’s family and friends. Several of them were musicians so they raised money for RUSS through music gigs and promoted the idea of self-build, sustainable, affordable housing to local people through events and workshops. Kareem explains that the CLT model allows you to issue non-profit shares, which have a ‘one vote per member’ principle. This allowed RUSS to build up their membership to a few hundred people in the early days. It also gave them around £20,000 in the bank as a starting budget.
The next step came when architect Jon Broome got in touch regarding a vacant piece of land that was owned by the council. Jon lived locally and had been instrumental in the development of Walters Way so had the experience and expertise to help RUSS take their ideas forward.
Don’t underestimate how long this process could take
Kareem describes the timeline and process involved in achieving their dream for affordable and sustainable housing. RUSS first approached Lewisham Council about the site in 2012. At that point it had been vacant for 10 years, earmarked for a travellers’ site, but restricted access made that unviable.
The only access road to RUSS
RUSS received a grant from the Community Land Trust Network to carry out a viability study for the site. With Jon’s input, they put together a proposal for 33 homes, for a mixed community, including social rents, affordable rents, shared ownership and shared equity. Community workshops allowed them to gather ideas, and Kareem explains that they were good at turning those into something coherent and organised. Every time RUSS met the Council, they were a bit further along. Eventually they received a grant of £187,000 from the GLA for the community Right to Build, and at that point, Kareem thinks Lewisham Council started taking them seriously. RUSS were bringing grant money to the table that the Council couldn’t access themselves, which helped to create a good collaborative partnership.
Kareem explains how they still had to go through a long and costly process to become the preferred bidder for the site. This took until 2015, with planning permission then achieved in 2017. They also had to raise the money to build the properties, which became a mix of social investors, grant money, loans and advances. Triodos bank became the main lender, with CAF Venturesome, Big Issue Invest and the Tudor Trust just some of the organisations that have supported the development.
Architype carried out the initial design work
A co-design process and compromises were needed along the way
Kareem outlines how they did co-design sessions with residents and the architects Architype to create the Passivhaus development proposal that was submitted for planning permission. Even though Architype had been working with a quantity surveyor to check costs, when RUSS went out to the market for that design it came in way over budget. The timber frame was just too expensive and Kareem explains that there also started to be concerns over anything flammable being used as a cladding. They came to a fork in the road, and the decision was made to part ways with Architype and appoint SEH. They then went through a whole exercise to get the costs down, with some big changes, the main one being from timber to concrete construction.
“Ultimately the choice comes down to, do you want to hold on to your perfect ideals and not do it, or are you willing to compromise and do it?”
At that point, so much had been committed in terms of time, energy, resource, money, that it didn’t feel like it was much of a choice. You compromise, because you’re not willing to say we’ve wasted X number of years and hundreds of £1000s. Kareem also feels that there is a value in this building, which is beyond the materiality and is going to have a big impact on people in the long term.
SEH took over the project
The communal aspect was a key feature from the start
RUSS were clear from the beginning that they wanted to have a community hub where people could come together and communal, open gardens for everyone to share. The communal walkways came about as a way of creating more outdoor space, with people putting plants outside their doors or tables and chairs to sit for coffee. The idea is for the development to feel like a floating garden with plants everywhere. All this creates opportunities for casual interactions with your neighbours and provides a safe space for children to play. The planners asked RUSS to maintain a view through the site, which has become a focal point with a Silver Birch tree in the middle. The bike and bin storage are made of timber with green roofs. Kareem explains that when they had to switch from wood, they had the cladding designed to look like a natural wood material and a combination of six different colours for the facade on each home. People chose the colour for their house and often use the colours as a reference point for their house rather than a number, which is similar to Walters Way.
Photo by Ella Stoneham-Bull
Floor plan of a unit
There was a lot of personal choice during the build process
Of the 36 homes built, only five people elected to do the full self-build, with everyone else able to choose certain features and the level of self-finishing. There was a good amount of flexibility for everyone, for example, people were able to choose their kitchens and flooring, with some electing to fit their own kitchens, so each home does look different inside. There was a lot of conversation around how much could be self-build and it ended up with the main contractor building the shells for each property. When the self-builders got on site, the shell was watertight and fireproof, the windows were in, all the external walls were done, and the services had come to one point. They took over from there, putting in the internal walls, all the wiring, the plumbing, the ceilings and everything else. This allowed for flexibility on layout, decisions on false ceilings and MVHR, more choice in terms of the fixings, the lighting, etc. Kareem points out that having done all of that, he knows where everything is and if he wants to make changes he’ll know what he’s working with.
“I would say I was a good labourer, who’s happy using power tools, I think that would be my category.”
Amalia Syeda-Aguirre on site
Photo by Ella Stoneham-Bull
The supply and extract vents for an MVHR unit
Kareem relates that building work finally started on site at the end of 2019, 10 years after RUSS was conceived. The self-builders got on site around January 2023 with an initial target for completion by May 2023. This was a very stressful time, with delay after delay and pressure from RUSS for the completion date to be met. The self-build elements were finally completed in May 2024.
The process did take a personal toll but was ultimately rewarding
Kareem explains that after many years it got to a point where he had to step back, because the pressure was too much. The structure of RUSS made this possible as he was never doing it on his own. His life completely changed within the 15 years of the project, from being a single man looking to rent a property to a husband and father of two, undertaking a four bed self-build. Kareem says he learnt so much along the way, communicating with people, learning every stage of the development process. Ultimately, he has gained a career working in community engagement within the built environment.
RUSS was always about more than just housing
Kareem explains that RUSS was always bigger than just housing, with big picture ideas around community, climate change, equality and where we’re going as a society. His biggest takeaway from RUSS is demonstrating that we can work collaboratively to build alternative systems and use different ways to create value that is shared fairly.
Kareem believes there is a different way of building housing, living together, sharing resources and providing safe places for our kids to grow up healthy and happy. We will need to redesign lots of our institutions and our systems to reflect this, because at the minute, we’re inheriting systems which are ultimately designed to extract value for a few and keep that value amongst a few. Kareem feels if we approach the problems we’re facing with an open mind, ready to work collaboratively, we’ll find that a lot of people want to be involved.
“Ultimately, we’re living in a world that we’ve inherited, which was built by people who are long gone, but what are we going to leave behind for the people come after us?”
Find out more
Visit the Rural Urban Synthesis Society website
Follow RUSS on Instagram
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