Spacehus 2.0

It has been over a year since the original Spacehus 925 was launched. In this time, development of the product and concept has continued.

The UK government is encouraging the development of affordable housing across the country and has set a number of frameworks to roll out the programme.

In response to this particular market Spacehus have developed the affordable housing product further. Standardisation across the range of house types has been the main focus. The 2, 3 and 4 bedroom social housing versions of Spacehus all now use the same components, including the bathroom pods and service units. This standardisation further improves the value of the product and helps with long term maintenance in operation.

Spacehus will continue to invest in the housing product and approach to ensure that we are maximising value to the end user.

The UK Housing Sector

When I returned in the New Year the Institute of Public Policy Research Report titled “We must fix it” was sitting on my desk. The report was issued in December 2010 and has a sub title of 'Delivering reform of the building sector to meet the UK’s housing and economic challenges’.

I can really recommend this as an important read for anyone who has any interest in not only the building sector but the UK economy. The housing sector is an important part of the stimulus of the economy and this report gives an excellent and frank view of what the issues are and what needs to be done.

First and foremost it is very clear that there is a significant problem in the UK housing sector. Presently the industry is underperforming and is building no where near as many homes are needed. If the issues of the planning and finance were resolved would the major house builders in Britain respond to the needs of the country. The suggestion within this report is that they would not and that a new system altogether is required.

The report is hugely critical of the current system and its underperformance and outputs. It acknowledges that the situation has been made even worse since the financial crash.

Many of the issues revolve around land and the fact that its value has risen faster than any other commodity in recent decades. The suggestion is made that the industry has become more of a land trading industry rather than a home building industry.

The consolidation of the industry with major house builders merging or buying up competitors along with the land banking of major swathes of development areas has put these businesses in a very precarious financial position. This has meant that the cash flow and balance sheets of these organisations are in crisis meaning new homes have not been built.

Housing completions last year sank to the lowest levels since the First World War. The banks however who are also overexposed have kept these organisations alive.

There have been several references to “The Lost Decade” in UK construction in recent weeks and it looks like 2010 – 2020 is heading this way. The report suggests that the Government’s new housing strategy does not go far enough and does not demand reform rather it offers major house builders public land, money and guarantees without getting something in return.

The implication is that we are heading towards subsidised stagnation.

The report suggests the answer is to bring new players into the marketplace and that the link between land and homebuilding should be severed. It goes on to suggest that any public land release should be linked to a rapid build out and lower profit margins for the developer.

There is also suggestion that partnerships be established where value created is shared between the public and private sector. The report also suggests that financially and viable builders should be allowed to go bankrupt and should not be supported any longer.

The detail within the report is considerable and there are fascinating statistics showing how the market has evolved and changed over a number of years. It also shows where Britain sits within the rest of Europe with some disturbing results.

There is little within this report which I disagree with however how these ideas can be put in practice is the real challenge. We need to provide quality new homes for families whilst also providing economic stimulus for the country. Any change will obviously be slow and in the meantime the large house builders will continue to have a monopoly on development.

The answer is for entrepreneurs to work hard to prove there is another way to deliver quality homes at affordable prices.

The development completed by Kevin McCloud is an excellent start and his profile can assist in moving the debate forward. His generally approaches the challenge from a design perspective but there is also the potential to have a conversation with the Government and start to resolve some of the issues in relation to land values. As ever, changing an industry is not easy. Those who are passionate about doing the right thing must maintain their energy levels. Over the next decade we will be able to make a shift in how we deliver homes whilst also making a considerable difference to the quality of communities and the environments within them.

An important month for the future of housing in the UK!

For several months the UK government has talked about their plans for social housing.

Housing Minister Grant Shapps has talked about a number of initiatives which he hopes will stimulate growth in the sector. The freeing up of local government land is a positive move to give a basis for new development. The attempt to reduce planning restrictions and burocracy is another attempt to encourage development.

Whilst all of these initiatives are encouraging, the reality is there has been little movement in increased development. Demand remains high, so where does the problem lie?

I believe the issue is lack of funds. The private sector is keen to work with registered landlords to deliver schemes, however they still face the challenge of raising funds via traditional banking as UK banks are prioritising repairing their own balance sheets before investing in any new assets.

Currently, RSLs are waiting for the Government’s announcement of grant allocations for future development, which has led to a lack of activity from them. Ministerial sign off for these budgets is scheduled for July 19^th with notification of budgetary content on July 20^th, which will hopefully lead to RSLs embracing the Government’s proposition of affordable rents, as Housing Associations will know what their allocation is, and will be more comfortable with undertaking meaningful action.

Most RSLs are very positive about their submissions and there are few who believe they will not get a positive settlement. Clearly this can’t be the case and there is going to be more disappointment in the market place than celebration, as the Government has minimal funds to allocate to this sector, in itself one that holds high funding aspirations. So, by the end of July, we should begin to see a way forward and a level of clarity and understanding in this sector.

Those who have had funding allocated will be able to progress with their plans. Those who have been less successful will have to think about alternative ways forward, including making the affordable rent model work and partnering with the private sector.

New methods of delivery will need to be considered. Our Spacehus product has been in the marketplace now for six months, following two years of development. The industry has responded very well to it, however, due to lack of development, firm decisions have been few and far between. We remain optimistic that once there is clarity in the industry, there will be a steady level of enquiries where we can deliver these low cost, low energy timber frame houses to those in need currently sitting on the housing waiting list.

Rob Charlton, _space group CEO

The low energy timber frame solution that costs just £80k...

Note - this blog was first submitted to e-news source Place North West for their Green Week feature.

At _space group, we have been working on an intensive research and development programme in which our aim was to develop a housing model both environmentally friendly in the strongest possible terms, and cost effective. The result of this has been Spacehus – our timber framed, offsite manufacture, modular building, which complies with the Sustainable Homes Code at level 4 and can be delivered for £80,000.

The costs have been broken down into three areas – materials £51,000, labour, £16,000 and plant/overhead/profit, £13,000. We have not included land purchase costs or site infrastructure in this price (however we have accounted for a raft foundation solution), as part of our goal with Spacehus is to encourage collaborative working. While the site infrastructure is not included in the cost, we have calculated onsite labour costs, and these are greatly reduced thanks to the offsite manufacture nature of the scheme. Not only does this have the clear benefit of being able to reduce site time to just 20 days, the eco-benefit is that we are delivering a scheme that drastically reduces the associated waste and pollution normally seen on site during a traditional build.

What makes Spacehus different is that we used manufacturing principles to develop it. We looked at techniques used in the automotive and aerospace industries, and we found that an offsite manufacture approach is an environmentally sound one, with this assembly line approach being more efficient, saving time during pre-construction and creating fewer components, which saves on waste and excess building parts. Indeed, each Spacehus is made up of just 19 components, with separate bathroom pods that are fitted during the process.

We have opted to focus on using an integrated, limited supply chain for delivering Spacehus. Cutting down on suppliers provides significant eco benefits as each part of the manufacture and assembly process generates fewer carbon miles.

Swedish timber framed housing manufacturers Trivselhus have developed a Climate Shield for the concept, which provides the building with a tight external envelope, dramatically cuts internal energy waste and helps us to provide potential Spacehus owners with what we forecast to be energy bills of just £10 per week.

We are using UK manufacturer EJ Badekabiner to create the bathroom pods, as well as the roofs and floors and we intend to use our own construction company, _space build, for the assembly, ensuring that the team constructing the scheme are familiar with it from inception.

We have used an efficient condensing gas boiler to heat the building. We spent considerable time deciding on the best heat source to use, as we needed to balance capital cost with energy savings.

With the gas boiler the house costs £10 per week to run. It is also possible to retro fit photovoltaic panels to the roof through a feed in tariff investment arrangement. This could potentially supply the electricity for the dwelling, meaning the only cost would be £2 per week for gas.

This approach is the future of the industry as it illustrates how both the housing and construction industries can bounce back from a time of crisis with a solution that is leaner, greener and better for the environment.

The future is Spacehus - a visualisation of a potential Spacehus scheme

Designs on expanding the Spacehus range

A visualisation of what a _space scola could look like

Work has been progressing apace on the expansion of the Spacehus empire and as we at Spacehus News like keeping people up to date with our progress, we thought we'd share some of our news.

As you know, we've been working on the Spacehus concept of timber frame houses since our initial research and development exercise in 2008. This research has helped us to develop the Spacehus range, so that we can now offer several different types of homes, including a 650sq ft two bedroom home and a 925sq ft three bedroom home, the latter costing just £80,000, an achievement we're very proud of, and something we hope will be able to provide many people with the perfect affordable home.

However, we've always known that the format we've applied to timber frame houses can be applied across other sectors. Our current focus is on the education range, which we've decided to call _space scola. Our team are working on concept designs now (see our drawing on this blog!), and we believe that this "kit of parts" approach to education is the perfect antidote to the problems of the education system and the legacy it has been left by BSF. Since the coalition government took power, much has been made of the problems surrounding the system, the cost to the taxpayer and its inefficiency as a process. While we (and many other architects) believe that the procurement process under BSF was too lengthy, we as a nation still have a need for education buildings, and that's because the premise behind BSF was to ensure that we could provide the next generation with a school estate fit for their personal development. The fact that there's less money available to do this hasn't changed the need, but the nation's architects need to learn how to deliver this estate better. This is where the "timber frame houses" approach comes in.

Just as we use manufacturing processes to create Spacehus, we can do the same for _space scola. The same benefits of a quicker build time, reduction of risk, energy efficiency and creation of a bespoke solution still apply here, and by designing different modules - the classroom, the sports hall, performance area, etc - to be added to the school as the LA and Head require, we have created the instant ability for any schools to grow organically, at as fast or slow a pace as finances allow. And while this is something that is currently in concept design stage, meaning that total costs have yet to be fixed, we are confident that the marked savings Spacehus is able to offer potential homeowners, can be reflected in _space scola.

Our vision for the _space scola is to ensure that it is delivered using sustainable materials, sourcing timber responsibly and is a concept that makes the most of PassivHaus principles so that the air tightness of the building envelope is at its optimum and the school can help its team make savings.

We're looking forward to bringing you more news on this exciting development, so, excuse the pun, but please just remember to watch this _space!

Affordable Housing - the Spacehus way

A visualisation of a proposed Spacehus affordable home scheme

We are increasingly being told about the shortage of affordable housing in the UK, and while the previous government tried to kickstart a social housing development programme, spending millions of pounds, holding competitions and generally trying to build momentum, annual targets were still missed year on year, and the social housing waiting list continued to grow.

When the coalition government took power a year ago, the waiting list for housing stood at 5 million, creating a situation that required the government to decide how it would move forward quickly. Compounding the problem, housing ministers have faced a growing need for affordable housing over the past year, but have a lack of capital with which to provide it.

The government’s approach to the issue has been to allow Housing Associations to charge 80% of the market rental rate in a particular area. This approach is an indication that the government is reluctant to issue grants or raise new capital, and would rather develop a housing programme based upon revenue costs. This opposes the previous government’s strategy of allowing the Homes and Communities Agency, a government-created and funded organisation, to provide grants to Housing Associations which, in turn, charged an unrealistic £80 per week rent, with the remainder of the cost topped up with a capital grant.

During the past year however, there has been some denial from the Housing Associations about this strategy transition. Some of them have not understood what the coalition’s strategy was, and many have been waiting for the grant system to reappear. In this period there has been no development at all and the programme of social housing has fallen even further behind.

Only now are some Housing Associations realising that new homes will have to be delivered in a very different way to what they have been used to. Land values are very unpredictable and for projects to be viable, the land value would have to be incredibly low. The Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) also need the support of the private sector to pull together the appraisal and develop the investment over a period of time.

Housing Associations need to have a home solution that can be cost efficient, both in erection and performance, but they need to be quickly and efficiently erected, in order to effectively reduce waiting lists.

At _space group, we believe that the development of Spacehus responds to all of these issues.

Consider this: Spacehus consists of a range of timber framed houses including a 925ft² 3 bedroom house, an 800ft² 3 bedroom house and a 650ft² 2 bedroom house. The 925ft² house costs less than £80,000 including a standard foundation solution, and each of these properties is energy efficient, with energy bills coming to just £10 a week.

These timber framed houses are manufactured in Sweden to the highest standards and use a series of pre-constructed components which are assembled on site. These properties can be built in less than 20 days.

With a fixed cost for the house itself, the only variable a Spacehus scheme has are the roads and service connections, giving far more predictability to the appraisal. These properties can be delivered in any part of the UK with no variation in cost.

The HCA are currently reviewing all applications from social landlords across the UK for grant funding. Hopefully this small amount of grant funding will kickstart some developments, but will also draw a line under the wait for significant grants.

Hopefully RSLs will be innovative in their approach to finding solutions to the housing problem which the UK currently finds itself in, and _space group is eager to assist in solving this problem.

Spacehus - the 21st century pre-fab

Today, architects are re-examining the idea of pre-fab – once a by-word for cheap but disposable and visually unappealing housing – as a new form of low energy, sustainable design.

Spacehus is a unique interpretation of pre-fab, off site manufacture and is based on the principals of PassivHaus. It turns traditional construction methods on their head in several ways, initially by starting construction of each timber-based building with its triple glazed windows and building out, rather than building a shell, leaving a hole for the window and sealing it with mastic. This method ensures that an airtight seal is achieved, with the timber for each Spacehus being engineered to a high level and component gaskets factory fitted.

Each Spacehus is fabricated in Sweden and then assembled on site. This means each building can be created to each Client’s individual specification. With modular building, site time is reduced to four weeks, and each building has a reduced target cost of circa £95,000, providing value for money at a time where housing is in high demand but budgets are tight.

A key focus of each Spacehus is minimising energy use. Not only does each Spacehus fall in line with Part L Building Regulations, each one has the ability to achieve code six of the Code for Sustainable Homes and can be zero carbon.

The particular energy supply that the Client specifies is ‘bolted on’ to the building, which means that using renewable energy sources is a viable option, with Client budgetary requirements being the only barrier to the final energy source and code achievement. The windows and high levels of insulation enable the energy generated within the building to be retained. Heating is provided by a single radiator and two towel rails, with a mechanical ventilation heat recovery system recapturing and re-circulating warm air. This strategy is a very simple, yet effective way of reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions.

Spacehus bathrooms are made in pods, which are pre-positioned on site with the rest of the structure assembled around them. This ensures the homes are watertight in a day and helps to speed up the construction process.

We believe that this design has many varying applications. The efficient construction methodology, low cost per unit and conformation to current building aspirations mean that they are a viable social housing option, while the design could also be modified to accommodate the needs schools have for additional housing, as previous incarnations of the module have done.

Today’s modular buildings should be monuments to the best of what creative design can offer. We are confident that Spacehus is at the cutting edge of a new stage of modular housing and are looking forward to seeing its many applications be put to great use.