While some in the house building market scoffed at John Prescott’s call for a newly built house for £60,000, it seems some architects and developers are coming closer to that goal.

Ikea’s flatpack Boklok at £75,000 comes in above budget, but Redrow have recently introduced Debut at Willans Green, Rugby. The company have employed modern methods of construction to improve building efficiency. With an economical layout, and communal hot water and heating systems, they have been able to achieve an entry level price as low as £49,995.

The houses are intended to comply with any 2006 Document L changes and are built with galvanised steel frame walls and timber truss roofs. PVC-U windows supplied by Rooms and Views in Flintshire and steel external doors supplied by Ian Firth ensure that the houses are well insulated and secure.

Optimum Building Products Ltd have worked together with Commercial Systems International Ltd to prefabricate a 3 storey, 5 bedroom modular house (pictured, rear elevation top and front, below) house off-site to ensure quality and reduce wastage.

Six volumetric units (2 per floor, each measuring ca. 2.8 x 4.2 x 11.5m) were built and delivered to site fully glazed and decorated, complete with bathrooms, services and central heating. From a structural point of view it was a challenge to factory glaze the the units as they had to be transported, and then craned and stacked into position. It would not be economically feasible to maintain a fully rigid structure during transportation and lifting so they engineered a number of sliding joints to the perimeter of the glazed frames and strengthened the inter-frame mullion and transom connections.

The prefabricated construction techniques resulted in significant cost savings over conventional builds. For multiple units, this saving could be much greater. The company are looking into using the modular system to produce the £60k house as outlined in recent ODPM's competition.

Source

Glass Age