Welcome to the
Mycelial Network for Community Asset Developers!
Transforming neighbourhoods one building at a time.
At the core of our work, we activate and steward land and buildings in our neighbourhoods. We do this with our communities, for the long term. Our work is deeply hopeful and determined – together we're demonstrating the inevitable future.
Why do we call ourselves 'CADs'?
We call ourselves 'Community Asset Developers' (CADs): locally-led organisations that take on buildings and spaces to benefit our neighbourhoods. CADs work with and for their communities to secure places—like community centres, cultural venues, and workspaces—so they remain in community ownership for the long term.
CADs are catalytic in nature: these organisations aren’t just about owning buildings; they create thriving local ecosystems by supporting social enterprises, grassroots initiatives, and ultimately, long-term neighbourhood-wide transformation.
What has ‘mycelium’ got to do with it?
Right now, the Mycelial Network connects 30+ CADs across England – from Sunderland to Plymouth, Coalville to York. We share knowledge and resources, and work together to shape systems like funding and institutional partnerships. We come together in ways like:
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An annual residential gathering
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A calendar of regular peer-led learning visits and calls, enabled by a shared budget
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A Whatsapp community
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‘Design sprints’ that help build momentum and proposals for new funds, practices and campaigns
At the heart of our way of working and our manifesto is the metaphor of mycelium, inspired by the work of New Constellations – whose deep research into fungal networks helped us think about how our own ecosystems might be more mycelial in nature.
Mycelium = a network of fungal threads or hyphae under the soil, which forge mutually-beneficial partnerships with plants and trees, and distribute resources to areas that need them.
Why do CADs matter?
At least 75% of the UK’s urban neighbourhoods are under corporate ownership and control, leading to behaviours like landbanking, rent hikes and ongoing vacancies. By localising and democratising who owns and controls urban neighbourhoods, CADs:
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protect and transform spaces for community use – critical in the face of spiralling inequality and widening social division;
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build local power and wealth, ensuring neighbourhoods shape their own future and any rents are reinvested for local benefit;
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enable collaboration, creating networks of organisations meeting local needs and working together for change;
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drive neighbourhood-wide retrofit and climate adaptation – critical given the scale of the ecological emergencies we face.
Through the Mycelial Network we’re weaving threads between participants as a way to grow the trust, mutual support and resources that flow between us. We know that we’re stronger together, and can use our agency and influence as a collective in the face of power imbalances with funders, asset owners and local authorities – rather than facing struggles on our own.
