Why is there a need for Reach? There’s a crisis with housing supply, with virtually no affordable houses being built. The government is not helping. Land supply and land prices mean developers are not interested and nobody’s making them do it. Average wages are falling, house prices are rising, right to buy is taking supply out of the market, housing associations are up against it. People are desperate. They are looking to a future where they are not going to be able to afford their own place to live and that’s whole generations in the future. Every policy is pushing people to rely on a rental sector that’s not reliable, where 35% of properties don’t meet the habitable homes standard, and there’s just no viable alternative. We have one.
Your vision is to create affordable and environmental homes. What does your prototype look like? It looks like a 40ft bright orange shipping container! We’re very grateful to Heeley City Farm for hosting us at the Alternative Energy Centre. We’re going to share a lot of technology and development as we go on. It’s a fantastically visible place. I’m hoping to have that prototype done by the end of August 2017 so that people can see what a one bedroom unit looks like.
The homes will largely be made from recycled materials?
Yes. We’re aiming for between 50 and 80% of recycled materials which helps keep costs down. Part of what we do at Strip the Willow – our recycling social enterprise – is to train up apprentices and work experience people, and they will be working alongside experts in solar and insulation, plumbing and electrics to provide a top quality home. Anybody who has Googled container homes on the internet can see that there are hundred of good examples around the world, but very few in this country.
Why are there few container homes in this country?
I think it’s a perception thing. The first thing people say when you tell them we’re doing shipping container homes is ‘I don’t want to live in a metal box’, but if you think about it, we all live in concrete or brick or wooden boxes at the moment, so it’s really just a matter of showing people that a metal space is no different. People think it’ll get hot in the summer and cold in the winter but we’re going to insulate it and use techniques that are used in Germany and Scandinavia to make sure that doesn’t happen.
What kind of techniques?
The climate in these houses should be healthier and nicer to live in than existing homes, because they are going to be mechanically ventilated with a heat exchanger so that sucks all the moist, stale air out, and then heats up fresh air coming back in. We’re going to insulate them to Passivhaus standards, which cuts energy bills by up to 80%. These really are going to be top quality homes, and we’re taking all the flabby bits out of the existing building process, we’re taking the heavily labour intensive bits out, we’re taking a lot of the blockwork and material supply costs out, and shaving it down as much as we can.
What’s your business model? We’re a not for profit business: we’re not looking to make a huge amount of money out of this. I’ve got a financial plan which means that in 18 months to two years, we’ll be able to buy land at commercial rate and then sell the houses with the freehold; by phase seven we’ll be able to provide financed properties so people won’t have to go cap in hand to the banks; and we’ll also be able to look at the social housing market: social housing supply is drying up because of right to buy and the squeeze on housing associations. People can’t afford places to live and that’s why we’ve come up with the scheme.
What are the challenges? The big sticking point is land supply. There is a limited amount of land to use. Having said that there’s a lot of brownfield land in Sheffield which we’re looking to redevelop. Because of the versatility of the containers that we’re using, we can put them in places where you wouldn’t contemplate doing a traditional build. I’m discussing it with the local council and have tried to create a public consensus to start with. Getting to the semi-final of the Virgin Media Business VOOM 2016 pitch competition has been absolutely fabulous as it’s got the message out there and I’ve been snowed under with offers of help from experts and volunteers and people who want to buy the houses. We’ve got a long waiting list already of potential clients. People are absolutely gagging for the chance to own their own home. I just think people have a basic human right, if they want to be able to afford a house, they should not be forced to live in rented property.
- Read the full interview at Environment Journal: http://environmentjournal.online/articles/bringing-eco-homes-within-reach/#sthash.yfEYo40b.dpuf