A major milestone has been reached by our in-house construction team at the community-owned Stirchley Co-operative building.
This achievement was marked with a visit from Selly Oak MP, Al Carns and West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker who recently took part in a ‘topping out’ ceremony which celebrated the completion of the highest point of the three-storey, 35ft co-operative building.
Al Carns MP who represents Selly Oak said:“It was great to see the progress being made at the Stirchley Co-operative Development, and to catch up with the team who are doing fantastic work to create a pioneering co-operative housing and workspace on Stirchley High Street. This is a brilliant and innovative development, which is not only helping to meet the local housing need but is setting an example for others to follow in the provision of affordable and energy-efficient homes and workspaces. It’s a fantastic step forward for Stirchley.”
The £10.4 million development, located in the heart of Stirchley, which will be owned and managed by Stirchley Co-operative Development (SCD) will provide:
39 affordable rental homes with laundries and common garden spaces.
Fit-for-purpose premises for three existing co-operative businesses that are currently renting privately in Stirchley.
A new community space including a pedestrian walkway, seating, a shared garden and cycle parking.
August Gawen, a SCD member who will be moving into an apartment in the building said: “I was homeless three years ago and have seen the worst Birmingham has to offer in run down supported accommodation. So, to see the SCD almost at completion and the comfort and security that it offers not only me, but other vulnerable Birmingham residents as well, brings me immense joy.”
The community- owned development is being built by our in-house construction team who took over the contract in April 2024. Since then, works have continued at pace with all the UPVC windows for the apartments installed, brick and block work completed on the ground floor, sewage pipes connected, and the roof has been made fully watertight.
Carl Taylor, our Assistant Director of New Business and Growth said: “It was a real pleasure to show Al Carns MP around the site today as we celebrated all the progress made to date. Once complete this unique development will become a thriving community hub embracing skill-sharing, creativity and the circular economy.
“We are delighted to be a key delivery partner on this exciting scheme and structural work has now commenced on the first floor.”
The SCD scheme on Pershore Road, is being built using timber frame panels, provided by Walsall-based LoCaL Homes, which will reduce the overall carbon dioxide emissions and heating bills versus traditional built properties due to its fabric first design principles and high-quality factory-fitted insulation.
Mike Doolan, Sales and Partnership Manager at LoCaL Homes said: “We are excited to be part of this innovative development which will help to meet local housing need.
“Our off-site manufactured timber frames are helping speed up construction times and reduce the environmental impact of this development.
“The main structure of the timber frame is finished and infall panels are now on site and being installed.”
The next stages of construction will see windows for the shop fronts put in place, utilities installed on all floors alongside plastering works.
The project plans were unanimously approved by Birmingham City Council in 2021, and SCD purchased the site from Seven Capital in August 2022 after securing significant funding from Homes England and the European Interreg NWE.
Chris Tomlinson SCD member and co-owner of Birmingham Bike Foundry said: “When we had our first meeting in 2016 to plan how we could build secure, sustainable housing for ourselves and our democratic businesses I had no idea of the challenges ahead of us. I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved so far and excited to show others what we’ve achieved as a community.”
Construction of the SCD development is expected to be complete this Summer.
Stirchley Co-operative Development (SCD) and ARTEFACT warmly invite you to a ceilidh and dance — featuring The Pied Piper Band, Edinburgh’s all-trans, fashion-forward ceilidh band — for a night at The Old Print Works in Balsall Heath.
For those of you who don’t know, this is the first of our Construction Parties — and we want to make it a big one. All the money raised will go toward communal spaces like laundries, gardens, and halls.
We’ve got some exciting things lined up:
Pied Piper Band will be leading us through the ceilidh dances Drinks will be available all night A selection of DJs will keep the party going long after the ceilidh wraps up (we’ll be dancing till late!) And of course, many opportunities to support of our beloved SCD — so come ready to celebrate and show some love!
As we welcome 2025, Stirchley Co-op Development (SCD) is excited to announce a series of free online workshops, open to anyone interested in co-ops. These monthly, beginner-friendly sessions cover key topics such as self-organising, co-op history, facilitation, and inclusion.
Whether you’re just starting or already part of a co-op, these workshops are designed to prepare you for your co-op journey with practical knowledge and support the community ahead of our building’s completion later this year. Spaces are limited, so don’t wait to secure your spot!
Details and booking links are below.
Self organising 101
7pm-8.30pm Tuesday 28th January 2025
In this workshop we’ll be looking at the concept of self-organising. What does it mean ‘have no one in charge’? How do we work together without having hierarchies? How does power and privilege show up in self-organising?
In this workshop we’ll be answering the question: what is a co-op? We’ll be looking at the history of the co-op movement, different types of co-ops and how we can embody values of the co-op movement today.
In this workshop we’ll be looking at what skills are needed to have inclusive and productive meetings. We’ll be sharing our experiences of good and challenging meetings, what makes for great facilitation and how we can deal with some of the challenges of leading meetings and how we can overcome them.
In this workshop we’ll be looking at different types of decision making, why SCD chose a democratic decision-making model and learn the basics of democratic meetings such as voting, elections and more.
In this workshop we’ll be looking at how we’ll be thinking about how you can make your co-op a welcoming and accessible place for all. We’ll be thinking about what inclusion is and sharing common practices for making our spaces accessible.
Everyone loves a burger now and then. The short burst of energy-rich, calorific food brings momentary joy as we take a break from work or childcare, or the drudgery of more healthy diets. The burger is the food of the free as the New York Times once wrote. It reminds us we’re free to choose what we put in our bodies, free to decide that sometimes a little bit of something bad is not so bad after all. In the 21st century burgers and other fast-foods are a deep-rooted part of our culture. And in the UK, a staple part of our high street. It’s no surprise then that the most famous and globally dominant junk food retailer is putting its greasy feelers out in our neighbourhood, with the hopes that Stirchley’s roads may one day be paved with gold(en arches).
McDonald’s have launched a publicity campaign in an attempt to sell us more burgers in Stirchley. A brave move perhaps since we already have plenty of indulgent food options on the high street. But McDonald’s have an extra special twist in their proposal which is that they’ll drop the bag of chips right through the driver’s window of the Nissan Qashqai and we can eat it in their lovely new car park whilst looking at other people eating chips in their cars. It sounds great, and nothing says ‘food of the free’ like a meal you eat with your seatbelt on.
Drive-throughs are a thing of the past. Literally. The first drive-through, opened in 1921 and was aptly located at The Pig Stand (1). They were a revolutionary new way to eat fast food, faster and born out of the buzz of the motorcar which was rolling out across America. The car became a ubiquitous part of modern industrial society and so the drive-through became a natural passenger. Although more present than ever a century later, cars are now understood for their harmful impact on the seen and the unseen. The location of the proposed McDonald’s already exceeds three World Health Organisation limits for air pollution (2) and the pavements are commonly littered with cars, blocking the walkway for people in the community. The truth is, we need fewer cars and we need transport systems that allow us to make the culture shift needed to get there. The idea of proposing a drive-through business in this climate is outdated, ill-conceived and not in the interests of Stirchley.
The nimbys will say that it’s all about Stirchley, but the local cannot be viewed in isolation from the global and the global is where McDonald’s really pisses on the chips. In 2019 McDonald’s emitted more than 53 metric tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere (3). Globally they sell nearly three million Big Macs a day and it’s been calculated that the production of each one equates to the same CO2 emissions as driving a petrol car for a 7.9 mile journey (4). The seven million cows they slaughter each year are fed on mono crops that disrupt ecological cycles and the company is regularly linked with reports of forced labour in their soy, beef and coffee supply chains (5).
McDonald’s, by sportswashing through financial investment in sports clubs and events, ensure multiple generations of kids grow up recognising the golden arches from their footy bibs. In this proposal, they want to paint them on our street too (6). From a corporate standpoint they want us and our children to continue buying these burgers so their tenants (the franchise owners) can continue to pay the board. Or put more brazenly by the first McDonald’s CEO Harry Sonneborn, “We are not technically in the food business. We are in the real estate business. The only reason we sell fifteen-cent hamburgers is because they are the greatest producer of revenue, from which our tenants can pay us our rent.” Burgers are certainly not so cheap these days, but this is often still the big argument put forward by the small pro-McDonald’s group. “McDonald’s cheapness is good for ‘working class’ people.” But in reality because of lobbying and corporate control by global players like McDonald’s we have had stagnant wage growth and greater casualisation through zero hour contracts. The solution to people being poor isn’t cheap food – it’s affordable housing, secure jobs and increased wages.
At SCD we’re calling for the rejection of all aggressive landlordism in Stirchley in the form of franchises or buy-to-let developers. We’re calling on the council and city planners to wholly reject this proposal and any others that attempt to take our transport systems backwards and our local pollution levels skywards. Instead, this land should be used for a community-led development in the form of much needed social housing, or other community assets such as the ones we’ve lost and are still losing. We must reject the false idea that endless capitalist growth is a good thing and that it’s OK for some to get rich whilst the rest of us get heart disease and asthma.
[Joeseph]
The proposal is to use the land right between the new Aldi and the Co-op funeral home—close to the Morrisons, oh and don’t forget there’s that new Lidl that’s almost completed a bit further down the road, too.
These roads aren’t equipped to handle the vehicular demand these powerful corporations expect to attract. Neither is the environment, locally or globally. The inclusion of 32 on-site car parking spaces (only for customers) coupled with the drive-thru aspect itself means more cars, more fumes, more noise. In their publicity they say that the positioning of the new restaurant ‘will help with traffic flow along the Pershore Road.’ Meanwhile the sad irony here is that our project, just up the road, is providing 39 affordable homes without the need for any parking. If the McDonald’s were to go ahead, this small stretch of Stirchley would see our effort to keep 39 additional cars off our streets nearly reduced to nothing.
The argument that a restaurant concept which encourages you to harness the power of your vehicle in the name of convenience will reduce traffic and pollution is quite beyond quip and witticism. There are three such drive-through locations within three miles of Hazelwell Lane and McDonald’s have over 1450 locations in the UK and Ireland alone. It is just greed, pure and simple.
But perhaps this time the Clown has taken a step too far. Word spread of the proposal faster than you can say Quarter Pounder with Cheese, please. Up and down the high street it was all anyone was talking about, and within hours of the news being made public over three hundred residents took to WhatsApp to mobilise and plan a protest. How McDonald’s will react remains to be seen. But anyone au fait with the McLibel case will know they’re not the type of firm that take criticism particularly well. One thing does seem clear, for the most part, locals aren’t too keen on adding a set of Golden Arches to Stirchley.
Here at SCD we stand with the rest of the opposition in our shared refusal to accept that Stirchley needs a McDonald’s. We also want to make it clear that we feel the site could and should be used for affordable social housing—something, if the substantial demand for spaces in our current development are anything to go by, that is very much needed in the area—the space could also be better used for other community services or other centres of community leisure (replacing those we’ve lost in the name of supermarkets and car parks). What is needed and what is logical, what would be in line with the council’s transport vision for urban centres, is dense housing that aligns with the preexisting bus, rail, and cycle routes. Not another McDonald’s.
Couple this with the fact that the most recent developments in the area have been encouraging increased car use and it’s clear that a drive-through is not just bad for Stirchley but also a massive departure from the types of developments needed in urban centres across the city.
Another element to why we wish to see this proposal go no further is McDonald’s involvement in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. They are, rightly so, on the boycott list for, among other things, providing free meals to the Israeli Occupation Forces (7). McDonald’s purchased all the Israeli franchises following backlash from this, meaning corporate now own all 225 restaurants In the region. The region where employees are told that if they do speak Arabic they should not use it whilst working at Mcdonald’s (8). With another four years of Trump about to break across the horizon this means further suffering and continual punishment of the Palestinians and their right to life. Trump and his MAGA-ites are set to appoint three highly vocal, pro-Israeli men to the positions of secretary of state, secretary of defence and ambassador to Israel. The latter of which considers Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank as part of some kind of biblical prophecy. If it wasn’t already important to show our solidarity and support with the Palestinian people, now it is getting desperate, and everything we can do we should be doing. Boycott all McDonald’s, not just this hypothetical one.
Scanning the McDonald’s consultation website reads as a list of promises to fix problems they’ll be causing if they get the go ahead. Currently Stirchley is being praised for its strong sense of community, its artistic output, and its ever-growing throng of independent businesses. All of these things will come under threat if we allow places like McDonald’s to drown us in their corporate veneer. “If approved, the new restaurant will deliver significant investment into Stirchley, helping support the local economy.” — quote from proposal site lol. The local economy will suffer, through increased strain on services, increased spend on waste collection and increased delays to vital public transport. The economic growth, McDonalds and Rachel Reeves talk about is only beneficial in conjunction with many other things. It will have a net negative impact if it increases pollution, litter, light pollution, traffic and reductions in biodiversity.
Co-ops are powered by people and as a larger co-op development we’re privileged to have members from all walks of life, who are doing fantastic work inside and outside of Stirchley Co-op Development (SCD). Each month we’ll be introducing you to one of them, so you can meet the faces behind SCD.
In our third edition of our Meet a Member Series, we had the privilege of speaking to August.
What’s your role in Stirchley Co-op Development SCD?
I’m a resident and I’m currently involved in the Publicity and Membership Working Group.
How long have you been involved with SCD?
I joined SCD in March 2024, so I’m a relatively new member.
What inspires you most about SCD? What motivated you to get involved?
As someone who has experienced housing insecurity and homelessness, seeing secure and affordable housing become a reality in Birmingham has been a passion of mine for some time now. I was interested in the concept of tiny homes and was contemplating buying a plot of land. So when I saw SCD was looking for residential members, I jumped at the chance.
I’ve also been involved in activism and community groups for over 15 years now. I think worker co-ops offer a model of work that is much more equitable and inclusive, so it’s fantastic that SCD is providing a home for 3 local worker co-ops as well.
So you’re part of the Publicity & Membership working groups. What kinds of things are you working on at the moment?
I regularly edit the SCD newsletter, which is now going out monthly. I’ve also been co-creating a training series for our co-op to support and empower members. We’re looking at several themes including self organising, facilitation, co-op history and financial literacy.
Would you tell us a little bit about your life outside of SCD? I work for a charity that supports asylum seekers and refugees. I also offer life coaching for people who are neurodivergent. I have many passions and special interests including gardening, anime and cosy gaming. I also take voguing and waacking classes (two forms of dance that originate from the LGBTQ+ community).
We’ve experienced dark days recently where fascist mobs have taken to the streets, attacking and terrorising members of our communities.
These are not isolated or random incidents, but rather a product of a racist rhetoric that permeates British politics, policing and media.
Whilst we should and do deplore their violence, we must also stand united against the systems of oppression that allow this violence to occur.
Many politicians, police and news producers stir up hatred and blame for marginalised peoples instead of addressing societal problems such as social and health inequality, housing insecurity, and climate injustice.
Moreover, these people are profiting from the racist tension they have fuelled and cannot believe their luck when people look to blame migrants and other minority groups for these inequities.
SCD is founded on co-operative principles that strive for equality for all members.
Co-operatives completely remove landlords and bosses who exploit us all and who drive division in communities.
In the wider context, co-operatives have a long history of organising against fascism with examples including the ‘Milk for Spain‘ campaign during the Spanish civil war and the campaign against ISIS in Rojava which is explicit about co-operative economic principles.
At SCD we will always support the rights of vulnerable and marginalised groups and protest against fascists, be they physically, politically or economically violent.
We stand in solidarity with all those who have come out to protect each other these past weeks.
Let’s continue to be united by what we have in common, continue to be visible in our unity and continue to work to make our communities not just not fascist and not racist, but anti-fascist and anti-racist.
As you may have seen, construction resumed for Stirchley Co-op Development in April. To celebrate this, we’re excited to announce the name of our building:
Jessie Eden House
There are some that might tell you a good name is hard to find. Others may disagree, but it is certainly worth noting that famed trade unionist, communist activist, and all round Birmingham shock-worker Jessie Eden agreed when she kept the surname acquired through her short-lived marriage to Albert Eden, late of Kings Norton. Before that she was Jessie Shrimpton, born in 1902, named after the mother that raised her in Winson Green. Jessie senior was a suffragette, married to journeyman jeweller William Shrimpton, both were huge advocates of Jessie’s wonderful outspokenness.
Jessie Eden in 1976
Growing up in the first quarter of the 20th century, we can only speculate how the young Jessie felt when she read about Emily Davidson hurling herself in front of the King George V’s horse. She was twelve when a simmering global conflict was brought to the boil, by heedless militarism, by all those outrageous miscalculations and then the shots fired in Sarajevo. Empowered and powerless perhaps? Pissed off? As a young woman working at the Lucas Electrics factory on Great Kings Street she would have witnessed first hand limping Britain’s coal industry’s nosedive. Felt Churchill turn the screw on the pound and watched as interest rates rose like those wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men.
The 1926 general strike found twenty-four year old Jessie a union steward for her section of the factory. One made up entirely from the only unionised woman workers on the payroll. When the strike started, Jessie inspired these women to stand up and walk outagainst greed feasting at its favourite feeding spot: Mine owners, looking down, pinching their purse strings during economical inclemency. When the owners saw profits wane the miners refused to except the longer day for less pay proposed. Unrest stirred. When the Trade Union Congress backed the miners and revolution suddenly dangled in the air, the Conservative’s lied about a subsidy, then issued a Royal commission to look into the matter. It deemed worker’s hours should be stretched, the subsidy scratched, the pay goes down.
So in the death throes of 3 May the general strike called for by the TUC began. Over 1.5 million workers went on strike. 1.5 million. Including Jessie Eden and her fellow female unionists.
In the days that followed the people marched. Their slogans were chanted. Trains were derailed. Horse owner King George robotically sympathised with the strikers and Churchill called them “followers” in his usual attempt to claim the narrative. Horrendously, British Fascism found its feet during this movement, forming a militia in response to their refusal of entry into what was otherwise a largely sympathetic police force.
As you can imagine all this action brought the ghastly living conditions of factory workers and their families across the country right up to the surface.
Ultimately, when the unions’ assets became threatened, an end to the strike was reached leaving most of the miners worse off. Many lost their jobs entirely. Jessie was one of the ‘lucky’ ones, keeping her job at Lucas Industries where she’d became known for her speed and efficiency.
She’d seen how greed and power and selfishness could reduced people to drones in the mud. She’d also taken part in a great act of collectivism, one that had managed to pull back the curtain to reveal the shivering naked men hidden behind it. So, in 1931, when Jessie noticed supervisors watching the rate in which she worked and realised they were planning to standardise her speed and apply it to her fellow workers, she hit the roof.
This time it wasn’t just the unionised women from her section, she organised 10,000 non unionised women to walk out along side them. The strike lasted a week before Lucas Electrics decided to yield, Jessie joined the Communist Party of Great Britain, and greater still, the victory sparked a huge surge in female midlanders joining the union.
This threat to be individualised for systematic profiteering must have challenged Jessie Eden in such a way that everything she’d seen and experienced at the hands of the government and the capitalists thus far allowed her to take action.
In naming our building after Jessie, we hope that her acts of bravery and forthrightness will continue to be remembered and talked about for decades. A good name is hard to find, and although Eden sounds more appropriate to our organisation than Shrimpton might, a name can’t change a thing, only action can do that.
With Jessie Eden House, we’re not only able to celebrate the defining acts of a Birmingham woman, we’re hoping that the promise of her last name can be realised in our plans and actions.
Co-ops are powered by people and as a larger co-op development we’re privileged to have members from all walks of life, who are doing fantastic work inside and outside of Stirchley Co-op Development (SCD). Each month we’ll be introducing you to one of them, so you can meet the faces behind SCD.
In our first ever edition of our Meet a Member Series, we had the privilege of speaking to Dylan. One of the founding members of SCD.
Dylan – what’s your role in SCD?
I’m a housing member who will be moving in next year.
How long have you been involved in SCD?
I’ve been involved since 2016… I think!
How did you first get involved with SCD?
Back in 2016 some of us were trying to set up a group that would bring all the worker co-ops in Stirchley together, so they could collaborate and support one another. There was also a few of us who were excited about setting up a housing co-op locally. I was also involved in Radical Routes at the time, a network of left-wing co-ops across the country.
What inspires you most about the development?
I can’t wait to see the dream of so many years of work realised! The day we are able to move in it will be so incredible. I remember a time when we were just looking at land in Stirchley with no idea we would ever be able to make this happen. I know the work doesn’t stop when the building is complete, but seeing the building finished is a huge milestone and I’ll feel a great sense of accomplishment when everyone moves in. I also can’t wait to get to know everyone and find ways to live together as community, which is part of what it’s all about.
What are you working on in the co-op right now?
Currently I’m part of the Membership Working Group. Originally we wrote a lot of the membership policies, before drawing up membership packs and then designing our membership process. We then designed and organised the whole interview process which proved very challenging – maybe more so than we expected! Deciding on who to recommend was also SO hard. Now the Membership Group has a bit less to do, so we’re focusing on welcoming new members and helping them settle in to the co-op.
I’m also a member of the Secretarial Group where we’re consulting with members and trying to make the co-op as accessible for people as possible.
Tell us a little bit about your life outside the co-op.
I’m actually a children’s swimming teacher, which is fun! I also have my own Personal Training business called Pick Up Fitness (shameless plug!). I run free classes for the trans community as part of a wellness co-op I’m involved in called We Get to Move. Related, I love powerlifting and of course swimming.
I’m AuDHD (autistic and ADHD) so I know a lot about very random topics such as tarot, herbalism, foraging, certain films and trashy TV shows, that I have no business knowing so much about.
Written by SCD members Joseph and Matthew. The views expressed are those of the authors.
It’s time to vote. But who, or perhaps what, are we voting for?
Boris Johnson’s divisive 2019 election campaign convinced vast swathes of the country to vote Tory. He scored the Conservative’s their largest gains in over twenty years, and in doing so managed to crush a Labour campaign that seemed a great voice of compassion and equality very much needed in this country.
Since then Brexit got done, a pandemic changed everything, the world was uprooted on shores near and far. Five years down the line Rishi looks spent and his government looks totally lost. Yet it is also difficult to overlook the same look in the eyes of some of his rivals, including Keir Starmer, the man that will most likely replace him. With Starmer putting the final massive nails in the Labour left, one can’t help but repeat the phrase “out with the old, in with the old” as we assess our options.
As July 4th looms, The UK’s two biggest parties have switched places in the polls. The public sector has been on its knees for so long that the lower part of its legs have gone dead, real wars as well as the toxic culture wars persist and the economy stands ever so stock-still. Very soon the people will have their chance to be heard once more. Or will they? When the new leader gets handed the well greased keys to number ten, although their t-shirt will read ‘change’ they are unlikely to represent the real change most people in the United Kingdom are desperate for. Instead, like a set of those shiny balls that sit atop someone’s office desk in the 90s they will beat out the same unchanging rhythm of the grey ball that swung before them.
So the people at the top won’t really change, but we can make progress locally, through community building. In our constituency of Selly Oak we have an opportunity to achieve this on the back of MP Steve McCabe’s departure and the precedent for community-led work in Stirchley, Bournbrook and Druids Heath to name a few. In contrast to the empty talk, our communities are taking action. The community-led homes are being built, the bikes are being fixed, the bread is being baked, and the songs are being sung. Our collective ideas and actions towards a place we think is brighter for us are powerful and cannot be overlooked by any incoming MP. They must champion our needs and wants in parliament and we must call them out when they fail to represent our values. Our incumbent MP Steve McCabe felt the strength of community action in Selly Oak and it cost him his post. Selly Oak will never condone genocide, we are not a war constituency and we will not support an MP who does not speak up for the rights of the oppressed.
Instead, the new elected MP for Selly Oak should listen carefully to their constituents and their needs and pay attention to where things are working well, in spite of 14 years of austerity and creeping nationalism.
Part of the foundation of Stirchley Co-operative Development are the three co-operative businesses that will operate out of the new building’s ground floor. Loaf, Artefact, and Birmingham Bike Foundry have long established their positive impact upon Stirchley and the wider area, which is one of the reasons more support for democratic workspaces will always sit prominently on our list of wants. The numbers don’t lie: 72% of worker co-ops get through their initial five years of trading. Compare this with the 43% of top-down companies that make it as far. More recognition and funding for worker co-ops puts more power in the hands of the people. And this means all the people.
Alongside the worker co-ops, thirty-nine affordable homes owned and managed by the residents are currently being built. This hasn’t been an easy process as we are operating within a system made for big profit driven developers. We need support from elected officials for more community-led housing, investment in more high quality social housing and greater funding for housing co-ops. Co-operative housing (where the people who live there make collective decisions about their building) strengthens communities, making them safer, more democratic and supportive places to live and work.
Unbridled rental prices and unchecked landlords are ruining lives, driving more and more people, including children, into poverty. People are being priced out of areas and into inadequate properties that benefit only the private individual who owns them. Any argument against cracking down on these societal sinkholes is moot. We value any effort to counteract this ever-escalating problem and strongly urge our incoming MP to take strong action against the private rental sector. We need to stop glorifying rising house prices. We don’t want to ever see Mr estate agent on the TV grinning about how much money he’s made at the expense of others. We want to see our MP on the TV fighting for secure housing for our children.
You may have read that a prerequisite to living in our new development is not owning a car. Believe it or not, Birmingham City Council supported this as it was inline with their aims to reduce traffic emissions in the city to help respond to the climate crisis. Cars are polluting our streets and school playgrounds and now take up valuable public pavement space everywhere. We want to support more sustainable forms of transport in Selly Oak and we support any MP who agrees with this. We need much greater investment in reliable public transport systems in Selly Oak, we need more and improved cycle ways and we need more funding for people to access electric cargo bikes. Our roads need to clearly prioritise the most vulnerable users.
Sustainable transport is one part of the holistic response needed to lessen the negative impacts of climate change. Another significant part is how we build new developments and, perhaps more pressingly, maintain existing ones. Our homes need better systems of energy management, better insulation and to be constructed of sustainable materials. The new developments that work in this way need greater support from our city planners and priority and funding must be given to such projects. The status quo of building poor quality brick semis with minimal insulation, gas boilers, zero rainwater capture infrastructure and a measly 12% quota for affordable homes (which is often not met) does more ecological harm than good and must be addressed.
Stirchley Co-operative Development supports an inclusive and diverse society that gives a strong voice to marginalised groups. Refugees are more than welcome here and we will always fight against facism, racism, sexism, transphobia and homophobia in Selly Oak. Our new MP must actively do the same. Co-operatives achieve a fairer society through their flat management and organisational structures. Where some might cry for a ‘change in the boardroom’, we remove the boardroom completely, where some might dream of profiting from property at the expense of others, co-operatives remove the notion of ‘property’ to profit everyone at the expense of no-one.
In order for any problem to be solved one must first understand the problem and its context. Any incoming MP for Selly Oak will only succeed if they’re equipped with this understanding. Someone who’s never lived in Selly Oak for example can only view the local issues from a god’s eye view that neglects nuance and ultimately fails. We implore the new MP for Selly Oak to support our communities to lead on achieving the safe, welcoming and thriving community we are working toward through Stirchley Co-operative Development.
Co-operative housing isn’t new. You’d need to go all the way back to the mid 19th century and the Rochdale Pioneers if you wanted to uncover the movement’s earliest roots. But regardless of how novel the idea might be to some, in the turning chaos of 21st century living, affordable, environmentally sustainable, and democratic alternatives are very much needed.
So when, after the better part of a decade of planning, work started in June 2023 on the Stirchley Co-operative Development with Tricas as lead contractor, an almost audible sigh of relief could be heard whistling its way down the high street. “We’re living through difficult times which is a direct result of failing systems that glorify individualism” says SCD chair and member of Birmingham Bike Foundry Matthew Cox.
There have been doubters; people for whom the concept appears too radical to succeed. But for the most part people in the community have either fully welcomed the construction, or have at the very least been open to listen to why such a project is vital for community regeneration and growth within the area.
You may have noticed that since January (2024) work on the site has come to a standstill. Only the big yellow crane seeming to shift and swing its arm with the direction of the wind these past months. Up until this point everything was on track for the proposed autumn 2024 finish. The groundworks had been completed, ground floor steel frame erected, and finally the first timber apartment modules were appearing in a flurry of activity.
Then in February, Tricas filed for insolvency and appointed an administrator to liquidate their assets. It cannot be denied that this was a massive blow to the progression of the project. Our co-operative values and skills were tested, our resilience had to thicken in the face of such a huge set-back. But we’re extremely happy to announce that everything is now back on course (albeit with a slightly adjusted completion date).
Since the hold up, we’ve been working closely behind the scenes with GreenSquareAccord and their in-house contractor has agreed to complete the remainder of the work. We wanted them to be involved in the construction from the very beginning, but since our ground floor contains large amounts of steel and glass work for the commercial units, and they specialise in timber frame construction, they were not a viable option at first. Ironically, now that all the steel work is in place, they’re not only able to pick up where Tricas left off, but are also able to keep to our original budget and plan.
Allama, member of Birmingham Bike Foundry and a housing member, stressed the importance of the development in regards to the three established co-ops waiting to move into their new ground floor units. “Our business is growing rapidly, especially now we’re stocking electric cargo bikes. We can’t wait to be in the new fit-for-purpose shop space.”
Thankfully we’ve lost no money, just time. An inspection of the site and the condition of the existing materials took place recently and revealed only minor damages to some of the panels which were left exposed to the elements whilst talks were ongoing. The crane is no longer a flamboyant weather vane, on Wednesday 1st May it started booming panels into place once again. The contractor is looking to have the roof on before July if the weather plays ball, and with that milestone met we should be on course for an April 2025 move in date.
This set back was out of our hands. Rising costs and overheads are affecting all sectors but particularly when it comes to construction. With the support of GreenSquareAccord the Co-operative members and the wider community, we’ve met this new challenge head on and secured the future of the project.
Let us all enjoy watching the new building take shape once more.
