We receive fewer and fewer blank stares when we tell people

one of our next key projects at Balandra is to build a Pocket Neighbourhood,

but we certainly receive wide-eyed looks of curiousity and lots of questions.

Here are some answers to help you understand the Balandra vision of a Pocket Neighbourhood in Canada.

• A pocket neighbourhood is a group of about 10 cottage-sized homes clustered around a common green & common building with cars kept at the edge of the property.
• The design of the cottage-sized homes and their orientation on the land facilitates a sense of community, safety and connectedness while maintaining a balance in privacy & quietude. 
• In a Balandra pocket neighbourhood residents have the security of knowing they are part of a greater ‘family.’ Residents can live a simpler life because of group participation and shared resources. 
• The working mother of two can dine nightly with everyone in the common building, or choose the privacy of her own kitchen. She can jaunt across the grass for an extra cup of sugar or pop out to the store—leaving the kids under the watchful eye of her neighbor, while they play on the common green without worry of cars speeding past.
• Organized group meals means she only needs to cook dinner once a week and spends less time on grocery shopping and errands, and more time with her family and hobbies (imagine! Time for a hobby!) 
• Granddad can rock on his own porch reading the morning news while neighbours walk past and stop for quick conversations over the low fence about his hip replacement progress and the latest political headlines. 
• Festive neighbourhood barbeques in the summer and winter nights by the fire in the common building are part of daily life. 
• A community garden provides fresh, healthy food and lowers grocery costs.
• Shared utilities like sustainable geothermal heating and cooling drops everyone’s monthly bills and keeps the planet green.
• Organized task groups create focused bursts of work and more leisure time for everyone since many hands make light work. By sharing resources and through group participation, individual pressures go down and vitality and pleasure in life go up.

LOCAL BUILDER WINS GEORGIE AWARD

Vancouver, BC – February 23, 2013 – Local builder, Balandra Development Inc. wins a prestigious Georgie Award for the home, Dunlin Shore: Best Single Family Detached Home over 2,000 square feet over $750,000.

The Georgie Awards are presented annually by the Canadian Home Builders’ Association of British Columbia (CHBA BC) and BC Homes magazine and are known across Canada for recognizing excellence in B.C.’s building and renovation community, highlighting builders’ quality, skill and professionalism. 

By Matthew Hoekstra - Richmond Review

Published: January 11, 2013 09:00 AM

Updated: January 11, 2013 10:510 AM

Clive Alladin, from Balandra Development Inc., has donated the use of one of his Richmond properties for the next six months to a local family escaping domestic violence. -- Matthew Hoekstra photo

A local mom and her three children will have one less thing to worry about for the next six months after turning to Nova House in search of a refuge from domestic violence.

Thanks to a generous local developer, who offered up a home he’s planning to demolish in six months, the family has a stable place to stay for just $1 per month.

Another success story: testimonial from the owners of Balandra's Kittery and Montauk homes