A Lewisham housing development where residents will help build the homes themselves has been awarded nearly £1m from the London Mayor’s Innovation Fund, Sadiq Khan has announced.

The Rural Urban Synthesis Society (RUSS) has been given £988,000 to build 33 homes in Church Grove, Ladywell – with work beginning in summer next year.

Community-led housing projects can contribute to stronger communities with those who will live in the houses helping to build them, RUSS trustee Ted Stevens explained.

“People are heavily involved in designing and the lay-out of the gardens.

“We are trying to create homes that people really want to live in and feel connected to,” he said.

The Church Grove site was given by Lewisham Council to the trust in 2016.

The homes will range from one to four-bedroom properties and divided up between shared ownerships, affordable rent and social housing.

The trust will retain at least 20 per cent equity in 28 of the properties, ensuring they cannot be sold on the open market and will only ever be transferred on to members on the RUSS waiting list.

Mayor of Lewisham Damien Egan said RUSS was building on a radical housing tradition in the borough.

“We hope this investment is a sign of change to come in our housing market, with fewer luxury flats and more affordable Community Land Trust homes built and managed by and for the local community,” he said.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “This is exactly the type of project my Innovation Fund was created to support, and I’m delighted we could help RUSS members in delivering much-needed high-quality social and other genuinely affordable homes.”