Development proposals

Suvana Cohousing will be part of a new neighbourhood at Northstowe being developed by TOWN, who specialise in cohousing and community-led projects, and Hill, one of the UK’s leading housebuilders.

Suvana is a community grounded in Buddhist values, and one of two cohousing groups that will form the heart of this new neighbourhood.

The project is moving towards a planning application in summer 2025, and Suvana cocreators have been involved since the early design stages.

How Suvana has been taking shape

Our proposals have been developed through a collaborative process, working with TOWN and a design team led by Mole Architects.

Here’s how things have progressed so far:

Vision

We began by agreeing a Shared Vision for Suvana – to create a community inspired by and embodying Buddhist values: loving-kindness, non-harm, generosity, simplicity, honest and helpful communication, and mindfulness.

More on our story.

Design Brief

We developed a Design Brief from this Vision to guide how the homes, shared spaces, and overall community should take shape.

Codesign

We’ve taken part in a series of codesign workshops and online sessions with TOWN and Mole, as well as regular meetings with the Suvana Coordination Group (open to all cocreators).

These meetings have helped shape everything from the site layout to shared spaces.

The next codesign session is on 31st July 2025, focusing on the next phase of the design. All cocreators are welcome.

Public
consultation

On 10th July 2025, TOWN held a pre-planning submission public consultation exhibition in Northstowe to share the plans and gather feedback from local residents.

The current proposals

Some of the plans and architect sketches that were presented at the public consultation event on 10th July 2025 are shown below. Or download this large pdf of the exhibition panels.

Images © Mole Architects for TOWN

Hear from Suvana Cohousing