First tenants to move into Stirchley co-op flats, but not as planned

The first tenants are due to move into a block of flats on Pershore Road in Stirchley within weeks, but the building will not be the community-owned home its founders spent a decade planning.

The Stirchley Co-operative Development was designed by local people as a "landlord-free" block of 39 flats and three shops. The shops were meant for Loaf bakery, the Birmingham Bike Foundry and the gallery and bar Artefact, all of them worker co-operatives, and residents were to share a lounge, a rooftop garden and a laundry room.

How it went wrong

After the original contractor went bust, the housing association GreenSquareAccord took over the site, promising to hand over the keys on completion. In March it told the co-operative it would keep the building after all.

GreenSquareAccord says it offered the co-operative the chance to buy the building, but as construction costs rose with inflation and interest, so did the price, until it was out of reach. Members have been living in temporary accommodation in the meantime, among them John Holmes, an 80-year-old retired lecturer who is staying with friends and family. Loaf has been trading through temporary residencies in the neighbourhood.

The housing association, which was downgraded by the Regulator of Social Housing earlier this month over weaknesses in its financial governance, said it intended only to cover its costs, not to make a profit. "As SCD has been unable to meet the final price, we are retaining ownership of the building," a spokesperson said.

Communal spaces locked

The block will now be run as general needs housing at social rents. GreenSquareAccord says it has offered flats to 25 co-op members, with the other 14 going to people with social housing needs, and expects the first residents to move in within four weeks.

The rooftop terrace, communal lounge and laundry will not open when people move in. "As a social landlord, we must ensure the Pershore Road scheme is managed safely," the spokesperson said, adding that their future use would be reviewed once the building was fully occupied. Tenants will need to provide their own washing machines.

The co-operative said only eight of its members had received tenancy offers so far. It said the flats were built at about 85 per cent of the national space standard on the understanding that the shared spaces would make up for the smaller homes, and that the washing machines already installed in the laundry would go unused.

GreenSquareAccord disputes that, saying the flats met the space standards it used when planning permission was granted and that the communal facilities were not linked to any reduction in flat sizes.

Shops still in limbo

It is not yet confirmed who will occupy the three shop units. The housing association says it is in talks with the three worker co-operatives and hopes to agree leases.

"Our worker co-operatives have absorbed more than 15 months of losses from these delays," the co-operative said. "Signing leases within four weeks means little if the rents are not sustainable. Our ultimate goal remains community ownership of the scheme."

The Selly Oak MP, Al Carns, has said he is concerned about the future of the development.