Mole were the driving force behind Marmalade Lane, the UK’s largest developer-led cohousing scheme, an amazing story of collaboration between consultants, developers, local authorities, contractors and residents. The scheme advocates a street-based development with homes arranged in terraces, situated around a common green space and a pedestrian-focussed community ‘lane’.
As a cohousing development, Marmalade Lane is the product of an innovative design process in which many residents were involved from the outset. All residents are members of Cambridge Cohousing Ltd, have a stake in the common parts and contribute to the management of the community.
“Mole have been central to the vision, planning and realisation of this unique project from start to finish, the result is that an unusual and potentially daunting development process, which is intrinsic to the Marmalade Lane project, has run more smoothly than would ever have been expected.”
Neil Murphy, Town Ltd.
The team behind BuildGroup.
Susie Newman, Architect
Susie graduated from TU Dublin and joined Mole in 2017. Previously she gained experience working in Architecture practices in Ireland, UK, Switzerland and Holland. Susie has wide-ranging experience particularly in the housing sector, working on award winning private and large-scale residential housing projects. She was project architect on Wuduhus which was longlisted for the House of the Year Awards 2022 and built to the Passivhaus Standard. Susie is working on early designs of what will be the UK’s first ‘Group Build’ housing project.
Shubhanaga Simpson, Architect
Shubhanaga is an Associate Director at Mole Architects, having joined the practice in 2013, and is responsible for leading some of the larger residential projects at Mole. Trained at the University of Cambridge, Bath University and London Metropolitan University, he has excellent experience working across a range of sectors and is a specialist in delivering medium and large-scale housing. Shubhanaga led the design of the Marmalade Lane project through planning, technical design & construction stages. Shubhanaga is now leading the practice’s second cohousing project, a fully accessible apartment scheme for a community of people aged 50 and over.
Meredith Bowles, Architect
Meredith established Mole Architects in 1997 and is responsible for the overall creative direction of the practice. A long-time champion of sustainable design, Meredith has been key to driving the practice’s expertise in this area, as well as in community-led housing design. Trained as an architect at the University of Sheffield, The Royal College of Art and the Architectural Association in London, he is Chair of the Cambridge Forum for the Construction Industry, vice-Chair of the Cambridge Quality Panel, and co-Chair of the Suffolk Design Review Panel. Meredith was instrumental in heading up the practice’s work during the award-winning Marmalade Lane project.
Thank you Clarion Housing.
BuildGroup was developed from “Home Made”, the winning entry for the 2021/2022 William Sutton Prize for Sustainability and Placemaking. The competition, which is named after Clarion Housing Group’s founder, sought ‘groundbreaking’ proposals that could make a positive social impact on an existing community.
Clarion’s chief executive Clare Miller said:
‘I’m delighted that we will be supporting Mole Architects through the William Sutton Prize. Our winners are inspiring and innovative projects that have the potential to change lives, and that’s what the prize is all about. Mole Architects’ proposal will be trialled on a future development site and we’re excited to see how it can help support community-led housing at scale.’
Who we work with.
We work with organisations, charities, housing associations, local authorities & developers who share our values, and our vision for creating better places.
Join the movement
BuildGroup can be used to embed social and environmental value into communities but we can’t do it alone. We’re looking to collaborate with local authorities, housing associations, developers, other architects, community-led housing groups and individual households.
Get in touch to join the movement as we develop the BuildGroup resources.