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building

cO-operation

Edinburgh, Lothians, Borders & Fife

A Cooperative Land Portfolio for South East Scotland

GET INVOLVED

Communities need space

We are being priced out of our towns and cities we need to do something big about it.

Building Cooperation is working with community & voluntary sector organisations to co-create a sustainable and socially productive shared land & buildings property portfolio across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife & the Borders.

Economic Vulnerability Without sustainable income or assets, groups are vulnerable to shocks & changes in the market

Why land matters for community groups?

Misunderstood Needs Statutory Institutions often have spaces in communities which groups could use and are restricted from accessing.

Inappropriate Locations

High rents force community groups into locations that don't meet their needs or the communities they serve

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Unfair Competition Competing with Commercial organisations in drives up costs which the community sector can’t absorb.

Captives in the Market

Groups are Embedded in their communities and cannot relocate so must absorb cost increases from landlords

Critical Lack Wealth: Renting premises leaves organisations vulnerable to rent increases and limits their ability to generate wealth from assets.

our collective Manifesto for change

As a collective of Community and Voluntary Sector Organisations we aim to develop a shared property portfolio which can:

Provide affordable buildings and spaces for Community Organisations.
Safeguard valuable community buildings & spaces:
Developing underutilised buildings & spaces.
Become a competitive cooperative company for the common good.
Improving financial resilience of the Community and Voluntary Sector.
Improving the quality of existing buildings and spaces.
Advocate for Cooperative approaches to land & property

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Re-building a tradition of Cooperative Land ownership

Edinburgh and the South East region have a long tradition of creating worker owned cooperatives dating back to the late 1800s. Important Cooperatives like the Edinburgh Cooperative Building Company and the Lothian Co-op were powerful players in South East Scotland and shaped land and buildings to meet the needs of their members.

We believe that for our communities to thrive we need to re-develop a similar asset portfolio which we can improve the local economy and peoples wellbeing with.

Big Enough to be strong. local enough to love.

The Land Cooperative is focused creating opportunities for community ownership of land and buildings in South East Scotland. We need to be able to operate at scale and we need to work for the communities we care about.

We want local community and voluntary groups from Edinburgh, Lothian’s, Borders and Fife to join as members.

We are also looking for collaborators and co-designers South East Scotland and beyond to help us turn this initiative into a reality

Volunteer Co-Designers

Charlie Wright

Charlie is an urban planner and specialist in community organisational development. Charlie works with Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations Council and is supporting the cooperative to develop a broad and supportive membership.

Harry Whitmore

As an architect and Community Housing Coordinator for South of Scotland Community Housing Harry is passionate about community-led approaches to land and buildings. Harry has been supporting the cooperative by facilitating development of our business model.

Xabier Villares

Xabier is an Economist and social entrepenuer and works for the Melting Pot and the worker observatory. Xabier has been supporting the cooperative by facilitating the development of our Cooperative governance structure