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Soon
after
Poland
joins
the
European
Union
on 1
May,
two
lorries
will
head
to Britain
with
an unusual
export
- a
block
of flats
that
can
be assembled
from
a kit
in just
five
days.
The
flat-pack
flats
from
Krakow
may
help
provide
a solution
to the
shortage
of housing
in London
and
the
South-east.
Giving
a new
meaning
to the
label
"mobile
home",
they
can
be taken
apart
with
equal
speed
and
moved
to another
brownfield
site
to be
put
up time
and
time
again.
Four
one-bedroom
and
four
two-bedroom
flats,
believed
to be
the
first
"moveable"
homes
imported
into
Britain,
will
spring
up on
wasteland
in Larkhall
Lane,
Stockwell,
south-west
London.
The
£700,000
project
at Barling
Court
is the
brainchild
of The
Hyde
Group
housing
association.
After
investigating
the
market
for
flat-pack
homes
in Britain,
Hyde
found
that
they
were
at least
12 per
cent
cheaper
in Poland
and
sent
a team
to inspect
flats
built
there.
The
eventual
saving
could
be as
high
as 20
per
cent.
Hyde
plans
similar
schemes
with
18 flats
in Camberwell
and
16 at
a second
site
in Stockwell.
It intends
to set
up a
joint
venture
company
with
Buma,
the
Krakow-based
company
which
patented
the
design,
to develop
"modular
housing"
throughout
Britain.
The
three
planned
schemes
will
stack
four
flats
on top
of each
other
but
future
projects
could
be higher.
Each
steel-framed
flat
will
arrive
in two
parts
ready
to be
bolted
into
place.
One
floor
should
be completed
in three
hours.
No scaffolding
is needed,
and
the
buildings
can
be put
up by
four
people.
The
homes
will
have
a 60-year
life
and
so could
be mortgageable.
Hyde
describes
the
Barling
Court
flats
as "urban
chic"
and
spacious,
and
says
their
large
balconies
come
with
sliding
screens
to provide
shade
and
privacy.
The
flats
will
be rented
fully-furnished
to key
workers
including
nurses,
police
and
teachers
at about
£100
a week
(one-bedroom)
or £140
a week
(two-bedroom).
Officially,
the
buildings
are
"prefabricated",
although
Hyde
prefers
the
term
"offsite
manufactured"
because
prefabs
bring
back
memories
of the
post-war
rebuilding
programme.
A return
to prefabs
is being
encouraged
by John
Prescott,
the
Deputy
Prime
Minister,
as he
struggles
to find
the
land
for
the
estimated
one
million
new
homes
needed
in England
over
the
next
10 years.
Although
the
Stockwell
project
could
have
gone
ahead
without
Poland
joining
the
EU,
Charlie
Adams,
Hyde’s
chief
executive,
said:
"It
is an
example
of how
the
economic
landscape
will
change
over
the
next
decade
or so.
We are
convinced
there
is both
a temporary
and
permanent
market
for
this
type
of housing."
Hyde
began
looking
for
such
a solution
after
the
Housing
Corporation
suggested
a programme
of "moveable
housing"
for
under-used
sites
in London
and
the
South-east.
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