astudio, the award-winning architectural practice, launches amodular, its proprietary modular building method with Be First, the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham’ s pioneering regeneration company. The ground-breaking process reduces the cost of modular housing, provides high-quality homes and offers one potential solution to help solve the UK’s housing crisis.
The innovative volumetric modular construction method developed by astudio enables the expedited assembly of low-energy homes, fitted-out, completed and manufactured offsite using precision methods of construction to provide robust, high-design modular housing.
astudio’s homes are supplied on a turnkey standardised production basis. Costs are minimised through bulk purchasing of materials and components. The small selection of standardised modules speeds up production and reduces the potential for defects during build. Multiple fixtures, fittings and cladding options both internally and externally are available, enabling each building to have a distinctive look and feel.
Working in collaboration with regeneration company Be First and offsite modular manufacturer Rollalong, astudio’s pioneering approach is being implemented in two new developments in the borough, at Mellish Close and Sugden Way in Barking.
Consisting of eight council flats in Mellish Close and 13 in Sugden Way, the homes will be built to the highest quality standards, in complete accordance with building and health & safety build regulations, more sustainably, cost-efficiently and within an accelerated time-frame of 60 weeks from design to handover compared to the 24-30 months it would take for traditional builds, saving the council vital resources.
Be First was established in 2017 with a mission to accelerate regeneration and, in particular, to address the growing shortage of housing in the borough.
Across the UK local and national government now spend £2 million a day on temporary accommodation for the over-77,000 homeless households under local authority care.
Richard Hyams, Co-founder and CEO of astudio, commented:
“We are delighted to be working in close partnership with Be First and the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham to help address the critical housing shortage in the borough, using our amodular proprietary production method. It is vital that landowners, developers, local councils and the community collaborate if we are to free up land and develop innovative solutions to address the critical shortage of housing in this country. It makes sense that one of those innovations is modular housing. We believe that in the very near future, building will become like car production, with houses becoming quality manufactured products.”
Iain Ferguson, Commercial Director for Be First, commented:
“At Be First we are determined to increase the pace and quality of development in Barking and Dagenham. So, we are excited to be working with astudio on this ground-breaking scheme which we expect to reduce costs and deliver top-class housing in a fraction of the normal build time.”