In her early twenties Rachel Bagenal was doing what most young Londoners do — renting in shared houses, building her career and hanging out with friends (notably her partner Harry Dwyer, a former flatmate Simon Chouffot, and Neil Double, a work friend). In many ways the four were in the same boat: loving London but tired of the chaos and insecurity of the lifestyle they were stuck in because they lacked the funds to buy places of their own.
Debating their options, they dreamed about clubbing together, buying some land and building their own homes. But after some light-touch research about the cost of buying a plot and paying for a build, they quickly realised that the costs and complexity of such a project was far beyond their collective resources.
