Award winning architectural practice astudio, will use its revolutionary amodular approach

that reduces the cost of modular housing while providing high-quality homes
astudio, the award-winning architectural practice, is pleased to announce that it has been granted planning permission, following a unanimous vote, by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham for its amodular off-site housing development. The project will utilise astudio’s ground-breaking building approach that reduces the cost of modular housing while providing high-quality homes.

The development, Sugden Way in Barking, will consist of a series of council flats and is targeted to be complete in just 60 weeks – cutting the 24-30 month time frame of traditional construction practices on this scale in half and saving the council vital resources. The project will be delivered in partnership with regeneration company Be First and offsite modular manufacturer Rollalong. Manufacturing assembly will begin early next year and be completed by summer 2019.

astudio’s innovative volumetric modular construction method enables the expedited assembly of low-energy homes: fitted out and manufactured offsite using precision methods of construction that will provide robust, high-design modular housing at less expense than traditional modular housing.

The architectural practice’s homes are supplied on a turnkey standardized production basis, where costs are minimized through bulk purchasing of materials and components, while speeding up the production process and reducing the potential for defects during build. Multiple fixtures, fittings and cladding options both internally and externally are available, enabling each building to have a distinctive look and feel.

Modular housing offers one possible answer to the UK’s housing crisis – across the UK local and national government now spend £2 million a day on temporary accommodation for the over-77,000 homeless households under local authority care.

Richard Hyams, Co-founder and CEO of astudio, commented: “Securing this planning permission marks a milestone in what has been a four-year journey to prove that there is a better way to procure affordable homes. To get the go-ahead for a project of this scale tells us that planners are recognising the value that our approach can bring to a community. Our approach offers one potential response  for policymakers to consider to help address the UK’s housing crisis.”

About astudio:

astudio is an award-winning, design-led practice, leading its field in design for manufacture.  It is committed to delivering high-quality innovative architecture in a wide range of sectors – characterised by strong conceptual thinking, enduring and sustainable design and collaborative working. It is an RIBA award winner and only five years since its foundation, it won Building Magazine’s coveted Architectural Practice of the Year in 2012.

About Be First

Be First is a pioneering new regeneration company accelerating growth in the borough of Barking and Dagenham.  See www.befirst.london