Posted on 07/17/2007 8:35:04 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Nine “Ikea” villages could be built in Britain within a year, in the strongest sign yet that the future is flat-packed.
Plans are under way for more than 1,000 Swedish-style kit homes across the country, to cater for the increasing numbers of first-time buyers for whom most homes are now well beyond budget.
A radical experiment is emerging as a solution to the crisis in affordable and sustainable housing, with developers predicting a tenfold increase in the number of flat-pack homes within five years. Starting with the assembly of 120 timber-framed homes in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, this autumn, the housing revolution is set for Scotland, Tyne and Wear, Yorkshire, the Midlands and Essex, where cut-price homes will be delivered in multiple parts, from the factory floor.
Promoters believe that the BoKlok concept, a joint venture between Ikea and Skanska that began in the mid1990s, could present the key to affordable, sustainable housing. The Prime Minister put the housing crisis at the top of the political agenda this week, pledging to build three million affordable homes by 2020.
Thanks to the Scandinavian design, which includes features that save energy and costs, the BoKlok concept offers a rare opportunity for buyers – a property with a five-figure price tag. Apartments begin at £90,000, and three-bedroom family properties are for sale at less than £150,000, pushing clear water between the price of a flat-pack home and £200,000plus cost of the average British house.
A report published yesterday showed that homeowners moving up the property ladder can expect to pay up to £115,000 for one extra bedroom.
Oversubscription, say developers, is inevitable. “People are desperate,” Alan Prole, managing director of Live Smart, the British partner of BoKlok, said. “The stark reality is that there are millions of families out there who will never get on the property ladder unless companies like us create housing options for them. We cannot create higher volumes of housing using traditional methods. This concept enables us to create a new generation of sustainable housing.”
More than 800 people have registered serious interest in the properties which will be assembled in Gateshead later this year. A lottery is one of the options being considered. Mr Prole said: “In Scandinavia, a local town mayor will draw names from a hat, but that feels somewhat mercenary. That might be a bit too emotional for us.”
Within weeks of being shipped from a factory in Milton Keynes, the brown-field site in Gateshead will feature L-shaped blocks, containing six one or two-bedroom apartments with communal car parks and private balconies. New owners even receive a furniture voucher for Ikea stores. Three different types of tenure will be on offer – shared ownership, below market rent and outright sale, with legal agreements ensuring that buy-to-let arrangements will be discouraged.
More than 2,500 BoKlok homes have been sold in Scandinavia, at about 20 per cent less than the market price for similarly sized properties, and at least 800 are being built every year.
Experts have said that the BoKlok concept may not be the answer to all social housing ills. Pippa Collins, acting editor for Build It magazine, said: “Anything that helps people get on the property ladder should be encouraged, but this is only one specific solution.
“It doesn’t address the national problem of rising interest rates, of the home improvement kits debacle, or address the problem of how buying and selling houses works in this country.”
Nobody's forcing Britons to buy these. Last time I checked, there's a free market out there. If you can create a superior product, I'd encourage you to do so.
I wish they still made them. The small craftsman-style homes that Sears sold were great little houses.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I am not familiar with the Dessau school, but thats what these homes sound like to me. Bare bones
I can't help but look at this nice scene and in my mind see a pre-fab ghetto with pimped-out or derelict cars and groups of street thugs standing around drinking malt liquor.
There are other buildings in the city that reflect the design - this picture shows an architectural concept that has all the common elements of the school. It always looks fresh to the eye.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Mrs. VS, if you are interested in the Sears Kit Home history (or anybody else for that matter) from the Sears website, click archives...and you can actually view the floorplans of the kits (they start in the early 1900s and go thru the 40s). What is neat is how you can see the home styles progress (a storage chamber could be made into an indoor lavatory—in the earlies ones); and then in later ones kitchens were built to include refridgerators. It is a really cool site (if you like houses). I found it because there was a ‘kit’ home (build around 1910) for sale in my area and I was intrigued by it (and I ddin’t want to go to the open house by myself and DH refused to go).
AND, environmental issues, too!
Oh, and Dessua, sounds to me like Stalinism.
Everyone in an identical concrete apt.
Hell I hate tract homes!
Yep, there’s a nice Sears Kit home in Odell, OR where my husband’s great grandfather put one up....sold for about $156,000 a couple of years ago.
Yep, there’s a nice Sears Kit home in Odell, OR where my husband’s great grandfather put one up....sold for about $156,000 a couple of years ago.
You mean, like something that average people might actually want? But that would cut down on the snob appeal and elitism! They don't want anything the common folks would like.
I went to architecture school for five long and frustrating years from 1992 on. God help the poor student who tried to present anything that didn't look "postmodern" enough. A concern for context and tradition? How trite and backward. Ego and pretentiousness are the main thing.
I actually think this a great idea. It would be a greater idea if they asked the public what they wanted. Art stopped being art IMHO when it stop being about creating beauty and instead became a celebration of the self.
Art has detached itself from the public. Until it reconnects it won't make much of an impact on the world.
We’ve looked at the Lowe’s Kit homes (Katrina)....a couple of them could be put together to make a decent home.
But what will the illegal construction day laborers do? :)
(Yes, I know this is Briton, but I’m sure they have similar illegal day laborers from the Middle East, Pak/India and Africa also.)
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
There was a grand one for sale nearby not to long ago. The real estate ad even featured the Sears Kit info...it was/is a house that always caught my eye when driving by. There is a timelessness to good design...and the Kit homes that are in my area (there are others as they were shipped via railroad) all still look like they could (or should) be rebuilt today. Some of the mid-century stuff...well, it just looks ‘dated.’
I don’t like it. I lived in a condo association once. I hated it
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Oh, and that condo was in Ca.
And they told us what we couldn’t do inside as well.
I understand your philosophy but don’t subscribe to it completley
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