27 February 2018: With demand outstripping supply by 500 homes a week, even the promised £2 billion government funding for affordable housing, roughly 5,000 homes each year, is likely to see a shortage of suitable accommodation for key workers and first time buyers for years to come. One potential solution that decouples land and building costs is being shown at Ecobuild 2018.
Developed by RIBA award winning architect Bill Dunster, the zero carbon ZEDpod is a prefabricated micro home with a difference, offering almost instant high quality housing solutions without the land and site issues associated with conventional new build.
The fully Space Standards Compliant ZEDpod is designed to take advantage of existing city centre car park locations and hard standings across the UK, either on the ground or assembled on raised platforms, to provide high performance, low energy housing delivered in a fraction of the time of comparable solutions. Once a pod is delivered to site, construction and installation can be completed within 24 hours ready for immediate occupancy.
The new ZEDpod solution is perfect for colleges, universities, hospitals and supermarkets, providing affordable housing near jobs and infrastructure.
According to ZEDpods architect Bill Dunster: “The beauty of the ZEDpod concept is that it decouples housing provision from land prices using air rights over car parks. This enables affordable, quality city homes where land is scarce or expensive to be put up quickly while helping keyworkers to live near their work, at the same time maintaining precious car park spaces.”
By building over carparks (the company believes there are public parking spaces in the UK with suitability for more than 200,000 ZEDpods) the new micro homes will benefit from good transport links, work place locations, plus in situ local amenities without adding additional strain to existing infrastructure.
Young singles or couples in ZEDpods would have their own balcony and front door, a kitchen and dining table, a standard sized bathroom, a lounging space with stairs leading to a mezzanine floor bedspace with home office desk, double bed, wardrobe and storage space.
These ready-made quality homes are built to higher standards than conventional houses, being super insulated, triple glazed, with heat recovery ventilation and lots of daylight, reducing energy demand significantly. The pod is constructed from quality fireproof, durable and robust materials and is designed to last as long as a traditionally built home.
With a variety of design options covering single or multi-occupancy sites, ZEDpod micro homes can be tailored for a range of accommodation needs. They are ideal for city centre organisations including local councils and housing associations, colleges and universities, hospitals and emergency services as well as other private sector companies, such as shopping centres and supermarkets, with extensive city centre car parking assets.
With Pods already heading into production, ZEDpods are now sold with a ‘Q Assure’ mortgageable warranty when permanently fixed to the ground and are available with a range of purchase options.
The company already intends to build Pods for local authorities and NHS Trusts for use as key worker housing.
The company believes the concept is of interest to both landowners wishing to develop their air rights and those with conventional ground bearing plots and with multiple schemes in for planning already expects to build more than 60 units during 2018 alone.
Comments