Cocreators at an early Suvana meeting - 2018. By Dharmachanda

The Suvana story so far

Suvana Cohousing Community is a new way of living, where individuals and families can live and practise Buddhism together.

It’s being designed by and for its residents: for shared resources, shared activities, and shared space.

Suvana is open to anyone who wants to live by Buddhist values and the principles laid out in our Vision Statement, whether labelling themselves Buddhist or not.

You can live on your own, as a couple or group, or raise your family, while also being part of a close-knit, supportive community.

Read our story below, or about the people, about the site, how we are getting on with it, and how to be part of it.

What is cohousing?

Infographic of a typical cohousing community. By UKCHN

Cohousing communities are intentional communities, created and run by their residents. It’s a way of resolving the isolation many people experience, recreating the neighbourly support of the past.

Each household has a self-contained, private home as well as shared space. Residents come together to manage their community and share activities.

Shared resources often include a common house, for spending time and maybe eating together; outdoor space; tools/workshop; cars, etc.

Originating in Denmark in the 1960s the movement has grown across Scandinavia, Germany and the USA. Cohousing is now attracting a lot of interest across the UK.

Why start a Buddhist cohousing project?

Photograph or a lotus flower by Vimaladipa.

We take the cohousing idea a level deeper: the community we build together will be rooted in universal Buddhist values such as love, generosity, simplicity, truth and awareness.

We will build an ethical, sustainable, beautiful, and creative community, supporting each other and sharing resources where possible. This creates a more natural and flexible lifestyle than our usual individualistic way of living.

As well as the shared resources typical of cohousing, we hope to include a shared shrine room where we can practice collectively.

Project momentum

Suvana cocreators having a picnic next to the site in June 2024

It was back in 2018 that a few friends had the vision for Buddhist cohousing, and after a few years of forming, the project now has significant momentum.

Since summer 2024, we have been working closely with TOWN, the UK’s leading developer of cohousing to explore the delivery of homes for our community on part of their site in the Northstowe development in Greater Cambridge.

The architects on the project are Mole who also worked with TOWN to create the award-winning Marmalade Lane cohousing community. Two of Mole’s architects are Triratna Buddhists themselves so they understand our needs and share our values.

We are excited to have started the codesign process!

Watch a video

To hear more about Suvana and see some of the team in action, watch this video recording of the open Information Session in September 2024.

Among the 20 present was special guest Frances Wright of TOWN.

The recording doesn’t cover all the questions, but you can see that a lot was covered.

A video recording of the Sangha at your Doorstep: Suvana open information session on 21 Sep 2024

  • The Windhorse Trust has facilitated Buddhist community housing in Cambridge for over thirty years and we very much support this new initiative. The new model of community within the Triratna Buddhist movement that Suvana Cohousing is exploring is very exciting and we will be lending them our support in whatever way we can.

    Keturaja, Windhorse Trust (Charity no. 1098979)

  • "I’m inspired by the new Suvana cohousing project. They’ve got what it takes to be an exemplar in creating community-led housing in Cambridge, with their vision and passion for building affordable and sustainable homes where people support each other and minimise use of the world’s resources. With Cambridge’s high costs and huge profit-led developments, we definitely need more homes like this where there’s direct social benefit, So I’m happy to offer them my support in their efforts and creative thinking to find opportunities for land and funding.

    Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge

  • I think it's a it's a great idea and a visionary kind of idea. And I think it would be tremendous to have this as part of our [Triratna] community and an option for as many people as would like to live in this way.

    Jnanavaca, Buddhist teacher