Flat Packed Homes now on Offer at IKEA
Welcome to the world of flat packed homes courtesy of Swedish furniture retailer Ikea and designer construction firm Skanska.
After the initial first built BoKlok homes in Gateshead last year, the ‘go ahead’ has been given for more of these affordable houses to be constructed.
The word BoKlok has been derived from the meaning ‘live smart’ and the concept of the ‘ready made homes’ is based on customers needs and wishes. All homes are built with a flexible open plan layout, high ceilings and large windows. These have been designed in mind to give the room a light, airy and contemporary feel, very much like the houses built in Sweden.
The flats and houses will be constructed using renewable materials with solar panels incorporated into the design and all properties will be south-facing, warming the house with natural sunlight.
All homes will have wooden flooring throughout with free interior design advice from Ikea as well as a fitted kitchen. The furniture company will also be giving home buyers a furniture voucher to help with moving in.
Aimed at First Time Buyers
Ikea will be launching its first housing designs next week to join other competitive house-builders within the UK. Plans to begin the build of the prefabricated flats and houses will be built on their own site in the North of England and aimed at first time buyers such as people with average household earnings of £12,500 to £30,000 and who are currently priced out of the housing market.
Ikea, along with UK practice PCKO Architects aim to increase the output of BoKlok houses and flats within the UK to 1,000 units a year.
First time buyers will no doubt be very interested in these homes coming on the market and will give hope to those that thought they would never own their own homes. To further help first time buyers, they are offered the homes for rent or a shared-owner basis if you can’t afford to buy outright.
Housing Shortage after Second-World War for First Pre-Fabs
Saying the word ‘pre-fab’ in UK brings to mind the houses that were erected after the second-world war when homes had to be constructed as quick as possible to help ease the acute housing shortage. These properties were ‘thrown’ up with no architectural plans in place with the hope they would last for at least 15 years. It has to be said that some of these properties are actually still standing today 60 years later!
The flat packed homes are proving more popular in Sweden where they sell on average 800 a year.
If Gordon Brown is to fulfil his recent promise to accelerate the build of UK’s new homes from 160,000 to 230,000 maybe this is one of the ways that can help. Made in a factory and constructed on site quicker than normal homes are erected can only help gain points.
The Banks Not Quite on Board
One word of warning here is that the banks are not yet on board! A spokesperson for Ikea said “We are not yet manufacturing enough prefabs to make full use of the economies of scale. There is also the potential sticking point of a mortgage. Halifax, the country's biggest lender, is wary of prefabs.
"We would be guided by the valuator, who would be considering issues such as structural soundness, security and re-saleability. As with any new method of construction, the lack of an established resale market will make assessment of value more difficult."
“The market is in its infancy so we should expect teething problems, but the flat pack home could undoubtedly boost the supply of property in this country, which could ultimately bring down prices to a more affordable level”.
Not bad for a company that started off by selling bookcases around the world. From bookcases came houses.
