UK’s first purpose-built housing co-op celebrates 50 years

Sandford Housing Co-op, in New Cross London, celebrated the milestone with a day of food, speeches and music

London-based Sanford Housing Co-operative, the UK’s first purpose-built housing co-op, has just celebrated its 50th anniversary. 

With 14 houses in New Cross, the co-op is home to around 120 people, who celebrated the milestone with a day of activities including a communal feast, open house visits, and an exhibition which charted the co-operative’s journey. The exhibition included historical stories from current and former members of the co-op.

The co-op’s chair Herta Gatter hosted an afternoon of presentations, including a speech by John Hands, former executive director of Student Co-operative Dwellings [SCD] and one of the founder members of Sanford.

He told how the co-op formed, and how it negotiated the hoops and hurdles that he had to go through to move the development site forward.

This was followed by David Rodgers, who took over from Hands at SCD to continue the development. He recalled how he had to go to a furniture showroom and order 146 desks, 146 wardrobes, 146 beds, and 146 mattresses for the rooms, and that they needed to be delivered straight away – in time for the incoming residents at the start of term, much to the shock of the shopkeeper. 

Current and former members of the co-operative then came forward for an open mic session to tell their individual experiences of living in Sanford. All of them told how much it had changed their lives, and how appreciative they were of their time there, the people that they got to know, and the opportunity to learn and live democracy and co-operation.

The afternoon celebrations were followed by evening entertainment on two stages with live performances by Queer Cabaret, a jam session, bands and DJs, and a bar. Finally, there was a closing ceremony on the main stage with a spectacular tealight show.

Related: Student housing co-ops notch up their tenth anniversary

Sanford housing co-operative is now an award-winning green environment, witha booming organic vegetable garden, and a system of ponds built by the members of the co-op, with tall trees, bushes and lawns. Members also created a bike storage area from railway sleepers, a fully equipped bicycle workshop, and an indoor communal area for meetings. They are currently looking into creating a community centre development.

Griff from the Outreach team said “Sanford is keen to build a stronger co-operative movement, recognising the need for working on creating better inclusivity and more co-operation amongst co-operatives. It faces different challenges to those in the 70s, and is working hard to find co-operative solutions so that it survives the next 50 years.”

Sector body Confederation of Co-operative Housing said: “We know Sanford will still be here, with many more amazing co-operative members coming through its doors.  CCH loved being in attendance, we have to say, it’s one of our favourite housing co-operative members.”