Architects:
Join a movement changing UK housing
Britain is full of overlooked sites that could become beautiful places to live. When architects lead - and communities of self-builders are involved - those sites unlock real value: better streets, stronger roots, and homes that feel like they belong. Livedin exists to help architects to make these projects happen.
Join Cohort One:
An accelerator for architects
Livedin have brought together a group of architects and taught them how to find sites and communicate the offer with landowners - to do something genuinely new. Cohort One is a programme that funds and supports the riskiest stage - Permission in Principle (PiP) - while giving architects mentoring, peer exchange, and access to AI-powered planning tools and experts.
Learn about Cohort One
The Programme
How Cohort One Works
We fund and de-risk the stages that normally stop small practices taking on sites. Here's what membership gives you.
Find & Assess Sites
Use LivedIn's mapping tools and training to identify overlooked sites in your area. We'll teach you what makes a site viable and how to approach landowners with a credible offer.
Secure the Landowner Agreement
LivedIn contract templates and mentors support you through negotiations. Once a landowner signs, LivedIn covers the cost of the Permission in Principle on a No Win No Fee basis.
LivedIn Funds Permission in Principle
We cover the cost of preparing and submitting a PiP application - the riskiest stage. Your practice time is compensated. Risk stays with us.
What Comes Next Is Up to You
After PiP, the path forward is yours and the landowner's to decide. Technical Detail Consent, infrastructure, land sale, and build are all possible next stages - you can be involved for as many as you choose. Cohort membership gives you the relationships and tools to go as far as you want.
Peer Exchange & Expert Access
Direct introductions to planning consultants, engineers, and ecologists when your projects need them. Direct access to our planning specialists at no cost.
Connect Self-Builders via the Plot Platform
Once consent is secured, approved plots are listed on the LivedIn self-build platform. Self-builders buy in directly - no developer required.
Things We Care About
What we care about
Most of this will feel familiar. These are the things good architects already care about - we've just built a network where they're the norm.
Careful Place Making
Every project must strengthen the character of its village or neighbourhood - never dilute it. Organic growth, not imposed form.
Material & Landscape-Led Sustainability
Design is rooted in local materials, landscape ecology, and long-term environmental responsibility - not tick-box compliance.
Combat Bleakness of Mass Housing
We exist to demonstrate that beautiful, affordable homes are possible. Architect-led means quality as standard, not a premium add-on.
Community Ownership & Self-Build
Create opportunities for people to take genuine charge of how they live - involving future residents from the earliest stages.
Grassroots, Bottom-Up Change
We change housing through action and projects - not lobbying or top-down policy. Every site we unlock is the argument made real.
Shared Knowledge, Shared Progress
Practices in the Cohort support one another. We share learnings, celebrate each other's wins, and refuse to treat peers as competition.
Technology That Enables Creativity
We leverage tools - mapping, AI, planning data - to amplify human creativity, not replace it. Technology works in service of good design.
Transparency with Landowners
We honour the trust landowners place in us. Agreements are kept. Promises are kept. Legacy matters more than margin.
Everyone Gets a Share in the Value We Create
Architects are fairly paid for their work. We create an abundant pool of well-paid work - so that doing the right thing and doing well are never in conflict.
Share Your Work:
Add your project
Have you completed a self-build project? Share it with the community. Your work inspires others and helps build a movement for better housing.
Add your project
Architects - Join the Movement
Ready to Take On Sites You Couldn't Before?
Applications for Cohort One are open now. We're looking for practices committed to the principles - wherever you are in the UK.
Apply Now - Live Application