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Living in a box

As city centre housing becomes increasingly scarce, developers are coming up with radical solutions to the problem of space. Nathaniel Barker kicks the tyres of some of the newest forms of urban living

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Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. And in housing at least, the old platitude holds.

As parts of the UK remain in the grip of a housing shortage, a number of innovative solutions have begun to emerge: compact flats, homes in sea containers, even apartments on stilts.

These developers are not so much thinking outside the box as changing the box itself. But with so many new products, it’s not always clear which offer viable cures for the housing crisis and which are symptoms.

So, are any of these new strands of house builder gaining traction? And are the products they deliver up to scratch?

Perhaps the most straightforward fresh approach is to make the homes smaller. Pocket Living, a London developer established in 2005, has become the face of this solution. It was referenced twice in February’s Housing White Paper after showing how flexibility on space standards can yield positive results.

In 2015, the nationally described space standard for a “one bed, one person” flat was reduced to 37 square metres from 39 square metres for units without a bath, with Pocket involved in lobbying for the change (Nat checking).

“The way I see the reference in the White Paper is that the public must open itself up to innovative ideas to help us meet the challenges that we face,” says Lucian Smithers, sales and marketing director at Pocket. “There can be no sacred cows.”

Pocket flats are almost bang on the new minimum requirement, but clever architectural sleights of hand such as wide doorways and high ceilings help give the appearance of space. They’re comparatively affordable, too. At a recently completed modular scheme in Lambeth, south London, one-bed units start from £267,000 (or £7,026 per square metre) – a market discount of 35%.

That’s difficult to beat in central London and demand for the product is soaring. Around 35,000 people are currently registered as interested in buying a Pocket home: that’s 140 for each of the 250 units it expects to build in 2017/18. Clearly, there’s a significant consumer base crying out for this type of product.

Yet there’s doubt over the lasting usefulness of Pocket’s “compact” solution. Though it’s a very good model for helping middle-earning first-time buyers, most of Pocket’s buyers will likely move on to larger homes eventually. When they do, without Help to Buy or other market discounts, the flats will be as out of reach for the non-wealthy as ever.

Then, of course, there’s the ‘how small is too small’ debate. Most would agree that 38 square metres are adequate for one or two people, but fiddling with space could quickly lead to a race-to-the-matchbox scenario.

Back to basics

But homes don’t have to get pokier to be more affordable. That’s the view of Naked House, a mini not-for-profit developer which recently received £500,000 from City Hall to help it build out a 22-unit scheme in Enfield.

“We think space is more important than the fixtures and fittings,” says Neil Double, co-founder of Naked House. Once completed, some of the homes will be 50 square metres, but will include no partition walls, fitted kitchens, flooring or wall finishes. The idea is to cut down on “unnecessary” costs, with the homes expected to sell at between £150,000 and £340,000.

“We definitely see them as long-term homes,” says Mr Double. “We’re trying to look at ways for there to be the potential to extend in future, so that as people’s families grow they can add another room on.”

Opinion will be divided over the concept. But, as with Pocket, demand for a Naked House home already dramatically outstrips its supply pipeline, with 300 signing up to its waiting list. The project is certainly gaining momentum, with other London councils interested in handing over land to the firm, so by the time the first homes are filled, the waiting list may well have spiralled.

Containing the problem

While it’s important the first-time buyer group is catered for, this is not the group in direst need. What’s out there for those who are feeling the sharp end of the housing crisis?

In a quiet corner of Ealing, west London lies Marston Court, a development of 34 shipping container homes on a site previously occupied by a cluster of dilapidated garages. The properties provide temporary accommodation for people who have presented as homeless to the local authority, and are a welcome alternative to homelessness or being housed in a B&B miles from someone’s home borough.

“I think there’s an awful lot of interest in this solution. The type of land use is the big thing,” says Ross Gilbert, managing director of QED, the developer behind the scheme.

“One of the really exciting things about this is that it’s flexible and it can provide responses quickly to the needs of local authorities.”

All in, the Marston Court scheme took less than six months to complete, with the first tenants moving in towards the end of March this year. It is part of a 10-year ground lease deal with Ealing Council, after which the site will be cleared to make way for permanent homes. The containers will be moved to another brownfield plot awaiting regeneration, possibly within the borough.

It’s a neat system for converting problematic plots into assets for the council and QED is set to launch similar schemes in Acton, west London and Medway, Kent in the coming months. Mr Gilbert says he has been contacted by interested local authorities “two or three times a week” over the past 18 months, so why has there been relatively little uptake?

“Getting buy-in from councils right the way up the food chain is difficult,” says Mr Gilbert. Those guarding the coffers tend to be cautious when money is tight and the product is relatively untested.

Lofty ambitions

ZedPods is yet another brand offering an ingenious housing solution. These pods are small, super-eco houses on stilts, designed to sit above car parks. At volume, the cost of construction is just £65,000 per unit, thanks largely to an offsite pop-up factory system, where industrial space is rented close to new scheme sites for assembly of the product.

“We tried to take the delivery of affordable homes away from the cost of land,” says Bill Dunster, the architect behind ZedPods.

He’s keen for ZedPods to provide long-term, relatively affordable rent for key workers – £650 per month or less with no bills in London. And, three years after the design was first conceived, Mr Dunster believes the project is ready for take-off after its £4.5m fundraising target was reached in April. He remains hesitant over the details, only willing to reveal that the first ZedPod residents are expected to move in to a privately owned car park before the year is out.

Inside, the ZedPod is small but hospitable. It isn’t perfect – there are the predictable issues with storage, and a whirring boiler sits right next to the bed area – but the design’s ingenuity is impossible to deny.

Mr Dunster and his team are drawing up plans with councils, housing associations and private landowners across the country. Before long, he claims, raised villages on car parks will become a regular sight.

Asked if it has been tough getting to this point, Mr Dunster says: “It’s impossible. And the only way you can do it is to fundraise first. You have no idea how difficult this is.

“We bid for government funding but we always get out-competed. The money just goes to the same old boring people, the major builders.”

He echoes the sentiment of other alternative developers: the obstacles to their projects are all perception-based. Convincing inherently risk-averse groups like planners, investors and hard-up council housing departments to take a punt on an unknown quantity over established competitors is far from easy.

Evidently, no level of architectural vision can provide the antidote to Britain’s housing woes. And there will be those who argue we should be striving to lower the blistering cost of land, not simply finding ways to adapt; but alleviating the situation will require some serious lateral thinking.

The line between clever solutions to a critical affordable housing shortage and the exploitation of those most severely affected remains thin. There is no easy answer to the question of whether the gathering momentum of these alternative homes represents endorsement or a reflection of the reality that more conventional models are simply unattainable for anyone but the highest earners.

But traditional methods clearly aren’t yielding the necessary results, and like them or not, more unusual forms of housing look likely to become an ever-bigger part of the national picture.

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