21 May Extraspace Solutions awarded £40m modular housing contract
PLACE, a not-for-profit organisation, has awarded Extraspace Solutions a £40 million contract to deliver 200 modular homes by 2021 for homeless Londoners.
PLACE was set up by a group of London boroughs with £11 million of funding from the Mayor of London. It was set up in response to growing rates of homelessness in the capital, where there are currently 54,000 households living in temporary accommodation.
Extraspace Solutions will design and manufacture PLACE’s modular housing units, which will have the quality of permanent housing and will have the benefit that they can be relocated to different sites when required. London boroughs will use the units as temporary accommodation for homeless families.
Eleanor Moloney, Extraspace Solutions lead designer, said: “This scheme will combine innovative design with a community feel. Our precision-manufactured modular houses will deliver the quality of permanent homes, meeting the London Plan’s space standards, and can be relocated to the site of most need.”
PLACE’s modular housing units will be placed on vacant ‘meanwhile’ sites earmarked for development in the long term, but which would otherwise remain underused over the short-to-medium term.
Darren Rodwell, councillor and London councils’ executive member for housing and planning, said: “The capital faces a worsening housing crisis. In response, the boroughs are joining forces to procure modular housing to use as temporary accommodation.
“PLACE will deliver high-quality, family-sized accommodation for homeless Londoners in their local borough – close to their schools, jobs, and support networks – and delivering new housing on previously unusable sites in the process.
“This is the first time UK local authorities have jointly procured modular housing for this purpose and it shows London government’s determination to create better housing outcomes for homeless families.”
Several boroughs are looking into suitable locations for PLACE accommodation and it is expected that the first site will be confirmed later this year.
Source: The planning portal
Luke Abbott Director