Waugh Thistleton Architects

Menu
Designed, sealed, delivered 1

Can offsite manufactured homes solve the housing crisis?

Launched at Dalston Lane this morning the London Assembly Planning Committee have today published a report which details how offsite manufactured homes (OSM) could help to solve London’s housing crisis.

The report calls on Sadiq Kahn to ensure that the full potential of OSM be supported through policy and a Manufactured Housing Design Code to facilitate the uptake of OSM across the industry.

As a practice we were delighted to be approached by Nicky Gavron AM and her team to contribute to this timely and necessary report on how OSM can contribute to the ever expanding deficit of homes in the capital. By building offsite we minimise noise and disruption to neighbours, we reduce vehicle movements and we ensure quality, efficiency of cost, and speed. 

In tandem, by building in mass timber, as many of the case studies in the report do, we reduce carbon emissions via the reduction in embodied carbon within the fabric of the structure and enable denser, taller buildings on brownfield sites over transport infrastructure by building in lightweight materials.

We believe that embracing offsite construction is essential to enable us to build the homes we need; and that architects need to be at the forefront of this technology to ensure that we get the very best homes we can. 

The report ‘Designed, sealed, delivered’ can be read in full on the London Assembley site.

Article by the AJ:

https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/use-prefabs-to-tackle-londons-housing-crisis-mayor-urged/10022963.article