Concrete to Containers

Housing of the UK has experienced a lot of change in the past half century, from the way it is constructed to the philosophy of housing. People have been trying to find ‘solutions’ to housing for years, from the cramped tenements of Victorian times, to the general lack of affordable housing today. It sometimes pays to look to the past and see what history has to teach us about what it means to have a home.

The 1950’s and 60’s saw housebuilding on a massive scale, filling holes in housing stock left by bombing during WW2, and to replace sub-standard and run-down housing. The economy was recovering, and local authority homes were being built at the rate of 250,000 a year, peaking at 400,000 in the 1960’s.

The 60’s and 70’s were the time of brutalist architecture, and concrete edifices were a common marker of a government building or tower block.

The philosophy behind this was a good one, a socialist ideal where people had their own communities in the sky, complete with hairdressers, shops and all the entertainment they needed. Built in the new style with these socially progressive intentions and with new materials, these new homes were also conveniently made of inexpensive materials and could be completed quickly. It didn’t go quite so badly as J G Ballard predicted, but lack of government investment, high areas of renters and social housing combined with the tendency to clump ‘problem’ tenants together, meant that broken lifts, vandalism and violence were soon commonplace. Many of these blocks have since been demolished – although many have remained and some, like the Brunswick Centre, have even gained listed status.

Moving into the 80’s, the mass sell-off of council homes under right to buy depleted the council housing stock and it has never recovered. This has meant that many people on lower salaries and those unable to purchase a home were increasingly renting in the private and social housing sector, a trend continuing today.

The 90’s were mainly a period of recovery from the bust following the years of growth in the 80’s, leading to the heady heights of the boom years of the 2000’s where average house prices more than doubled from £100,000 in 2000 to around £225,000 in 2007 before the 2008 crash bought the dream to an end.

Tiny houses are often touted as the solutions to housing ills’

So where does this leave us now? The number of people who live in owner-occupied homes has decreased after (mostly) steadily increasing since the 1950’s; according to research by Bloomberg Economics, home ownership fell from 73.3% in 2007, to 63.4% in 2016. This is a startling fall that masks other trends – notably the decline in home ownership for young people. The IFS has found that for those born in the 1970’s, 43% owned their own home before they hit 27. This figure dropped to just 25% for those born in the late 1980s. This trend is also more pronounced for those in more expensive areas. Home ownership for 25 – 34-year olds in London and the South East has dropped from 64% in 1998, to 32% in 2018. So, the nearly 10% drop in home ownership since 2007 disguises some even more startling information when broken down by age or region.

In 2017, Theresa May promised to make “the British dream a reality by reigniting home ownership in Britain once again”, and said she was taking “personal charge” of the effort to solve the country’s housing problems. The then chancellor, Phillip Hammond, promised to ensure the construction of 300,000 new homes each year. There were 184,000 homes build in 2016/17, and this is increasing which is heartening, however the government’s idea of affordable frequently doesn’t follow what the majority of the population would consider affordable.

So what is a younger person to do, especially in high-cost areas such as London and the South East, or those on lower wages or wanting to live mortgage free?

Are there any realistic options for those who have been priced out of the housing market, and what can we do to combat the high cost of living? For a start, people are getting more creative and willing to compromise.

The first sacrifice on the altar of cost will usually be space. ‘Tiny houses’ are often touted as the solution to housing ills, but with a square meterage far below the Riba recommended size is this a sacrifice too far? Back in ’79, The Jam knew that ‘the public wants what the public gets’ and with the rise of smaller housing there has been a whole movement to accompany it as something to strive for. People now want to move towards minimalism as promoted by Marie Kondo, tidy-mind, de-cluttering and countless other ‘wellbeing’ trends. Clever solutions such as ‘cute’ storage (think IKEA) and a high use of the space available with multi-use furniture (Aleph and others) means that it has never been cooler to live smaller.

Modular homes are another way to go. Originating from the post-war quick built homes, these new modular homes are built to a much higher standard. Not just in cost, but attractiveness and quality; the ilke Homes development, Hundred House, won the Reader’s Choice Terrace of the Future Award from the Sunday Times in 2018.

Working with housing associations and local authorities, as well as developers, ilke Homes are aiming to deliver 2,000 homes a year within the next two years. Legal and General have also got in on this action. The finance and investment firm has recently opened a factory in Leeds that manufactures modular homes.

Modular homes are far cheaper than traditionally built homes, ilke Homes offer a fully-fitted three-bedroom home from as little as £65,000 and can be built to a high standard. They are normally assembled in one to two weeks and although small, they are larger than the average new-build home. Currently most of their clients are housing associations and others who can buy in bulk, however as more units are bought it will become more common and easier for people to buy one of these themselves.

Similar to modular homes are containers. In the same vein as the concrete explosion of the 60’s and 70’s, containers are quick and cheap to build, and can offer living space to a lot of people in a small area. Container City have been specialising in creating spaces from shipping containers since 1998 and have been joined by a host of other companies offering starter homes to private buyers from as little as £9,000, or £20,000 for a higher spec and fully decorated home.

Although not all banks will offer a mortgage on a modular or container home, some do and it is becoming more common, making these options more attractive and possible. In addition, container homes often don’t need planning permission; due to their portable nature they generally aren’t considered to be permanent structures.

A more romantic housing solution for those who have a certain practical inclination, could be waterway living. Barges, boats and canal boats make excellent use of the UK’s extensive canal system, even offering an easy way to go on holiday. With costs of a liveable canal boat starting from around £20,000 and the average mooring fees at £3,000, it is an attractive option to many. Hundreds of Londoners have already discovered canal boats as a way of escaping the sky-high rental market, and outside of London this way of living is even more affordable (mooring fees vary considerably).

Canal boats can offer a great sense of community and a short commute to the office, as well as manageable rents. The down-side to this equation is ongoing maintenance, a necessary practicality in residents, and a home that will never increase in value like a traditional home. In addition, banks can be very reluctant to lend money for a home that can be moved away overnight!

The face of housing and how it is used has changed markedly since the 50’s. The home ownership dream is still very much alive, but people are getting on the ladder later and making compromises to do so. And it seems that there are genuine solutions available for those able and willing to think outside the box (or creatively inside it, when it comes to micro-homes). Brutalism might not be to everyone’s taste, but the philosophy was spot on, and the idea of high-quality, high density, cheaply built housing could be the way to go if we are going to make best use of the UK’s limited building space.

Laura Watkins