After an accomplished architectural career spanning Europe and Asia, Alastair pivoted to real estate and founded Township in 2024 to pursue his deepest passion: creating communities where people genuinely connect.

Alastair earned a diploma from the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, where he started his career. In 2008, he founded BAKOKO, a boutique architectural firm in Japan whose innovative housing designs attracted global attention and sparked his fascination with the interplay between economics and design.

This led him to pursue a master’s degree in real estate at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he now resides. He went on to manage over $2 billion in U.S. real estate projects for global investment firm BGO before discovering cohousing and founding Township to build neighborhoods that foster social connection and help residents live longer, happier, more enriching lives.

Alastair is a graduate of the 500 Communities Program led by cohousing pioneer Katie McCamant and is a member of the Cohousing Association of the United States and the Urban Land Institute. His insights on housing and community have been featured by CNN, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, The Financial Times, and The Guardian.

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Ronaye Matthew is widely recognized as Canada’s foremost cohousing development expert, having successfully guided twelve cohousing communities from initial concept through to move-in — an achievement virtually unmatched in North America.

As the founder and president of Cohousing Development Consulting (CDC), Ronaye provided comprehensive start-up, project management, marketing, administration, and community-building services across more than two decades of practice. Her background bridges human connectivity with development expertise: after earning a degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Architecture and gaining experience in conventional residential development across Alberta and British Columbia, Ronaye’s path shifted in 1994 to align more directly with her interest in sustainable community.

In 1996 she was introduced to the concept of cohousing and was inspired to focus her efforts on supporting groups to translate their vision of community into reality. Her deep understanding of what it takes to move a group of aspiring neighbours through the full gauntlet of formation, governance, design, financing, and construction has been distilled in her book “Community Led Housing: A Cohousing Development Approach”, co-authored with Margaret Critchlow.

Ronaye has been a board member of the Canadian Cohousing Network since 1996 and has lived at Cranberry Commons Cohousing in British Columbia since its completion in 2001 — embodying the principles she champions professionally.

Margaret Critchlow, PhD, brings a rare combination of academic rigor and lived cohousing experience to Township, grounding the team’s work in a deep understanding of how communities form, function, and endure.

Margaret spent twenty-five years as a professor of Social Anthropology at York University in Ontario, where her field research took her to the villages of Vanuatu in the South Pacific — an experience that first revealed to her the profound importance of community-led housing. A leading voice in academic cohousing discourse, she has authored or co-authored more than 50 academic articles and seven books, including works on housing cooperatives, customary land tenure, colonial history, and international development issues.

Upon retiring from academic life and relocating to Vancouver Island, Margaret became a founding member of Harbourside Cohousing — the first senior cohousing community in western Canada — where she has lived since it opened in January 2016. She went on to serve as a community-building facilitator with CDC, and developed popular online courses including “Planning for Aging in Community” and “Is Cohousing for You?”, helping prospective members understand and prepare for cohousing life.

As co-author of “Community Led Housing: A Cohousing Development Approach”, Margaret’s scholarly perspective and practical facilitation experience are woven into Township’s approach, ensuring every community we support is built on a foundation of genuine understanding, inclusion, and resilience.