6 minute read
Unique Homes for Bristol
The Bristol Housing Festival is investigating several innovative building types over a five year period. One of these features ZED PODS with its energy efficient and timber-based approach to building design.
he Bristol Housing Festival is running over five years and T is being supported by Bristol City Council, Bristol and Bath Regional Capital, WECA and The Shaftesbury Partnership. It is acting as an incubator to road-test, in a real-world scenario, both existing concepts and innovative solutions designed to accelerate the delivery of quality, affordable housing. These will include exploring smart technology and offsite manufacturing. The Festival will also highlight the ambition and work that is already underway in the city through partnerships, innovators, community groups and pioneers. A key housing project nearing completion is Hope Rise. This has been designed to be the first 100% affordable and zero-carbon housing development aimed at creating a mixed tenure affordable housing scheme over the Chalks Road car park, adjacent to St. George Park, Bristol. It is a pioneering environmental and socially focused development which will deliver much needed social housing in St George for young people in need of affordable housing. The project is being delivered by ZED PODs – the multi-award winning, eco-friendly and timber modular homes designer and builder. The modules have been designed and detailed to be both highly energy efficient and Net Zero-Carbon in operation, to secure residents the lowest possible running costs. It comprises of nine one-bedroom homes constructed of cross laminated timber (CLT), book-ended by two two-bedroom homes constructed of light-gauge steel. This modular solution can be demountable or permanent and delivers affordable living spaces above existing ‘carparks, garages, infills and hard-standing areas’. Providing affordable housing remains a fundamental issue for local authorities. The Hope Rise development will ensure that the support networks are in place for the tenants and is designed to increase tenant interaction and neighbourliness. This innovative development will rethink existing land use in central Bristol demonstrating new thinking to help solve the housing crisis, whilst at the same time providing beautiful, low carbon housing.
Drop In Units
September 2020 saw a ‘UK first’ take place as the 11 ZED PODS apartments were finally craned into place. The development will see the one and two-bedroom apartments built on a podium above the car park in Chalks Road, St George. The development is being delivered in partnership with Bristol City Council, Bristol Housing Festival, YMCA and Bristol and Bath Regional Capital. The factory-built modular units can be erected within days and are designed to be zero carbon, energy neutral and have the lowest possible running costs. Each unit is precision-made in a factory environment to high environmental standards and comes with full BOPAS (Build Off-site Property Assurance Scheme) accreditation. These ZED PODS are unique in their approach to developments, by separating housing provision from land costs using air rights over car parks, thus making the development extremely affordable. This removal of the ‘cost of land’ from the ‘price of housing’ could see the use of the UK’s 200,000 city centre car parking spaces. This is also the first 100% socially-rented development of its kind in the country. “We wanted to address key worker and affordable housing issues without compromising on our values of sustainability and quality,” says ZED PODS Operations Director Dr Rehan Khodabuccus. “We are very pleased that Bristol City Council has had the foresight to partner with us direct and are so enthusiastic about the potential for more developments like this. We have very much enjoyed working hand in hand with them to create what we hope will be a significant solution to the housing crisis and welcome their open mindedness about innovations such as these.”
From left to right: Julian Higson, Director, Housing and Landlord Services, Bristol City Council; Cllr Paul Smith, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Housing, Bristol City Council; Councillor Asher Craig, Deputy Mayor (Communities, Equalities & Public Health), St George West Ward, Bristol City Council; Dr. Rehan Khodabuccus, operations director ZED PODS; Ben Silvey, Director, YMCA Bristol and The Kitchen; Mayor Marvin Rees, Bristol City Council; Jessie Wilde, Deputy Project Director, Bristol Housing Festival.
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Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, added: “I am really pleased to see this development come to fruition. It’s an exciting and yet practical approach to addressing some of the housing challenges we have in the city and I hope we can see more of these sort of projects delivered in the near future. We have to be thinking creatively about how we best use the space we have in the city and not keep pushing people further and further out because they can’t afford city house prices.” Jez Sweetland, Bristol Housing Festival Project Director, also added: “This was one of the projects that came about as a result of our five year Bristol Housing Festival that started in 2018 which is all about trying out new ideas and re-imagining better ways to live in our cities. Our aim has always been to deliver tangible projects and so I am thrilled that the ZED PODS project is now actually a reality and that there are other projects in the pipeline.” This environmental and socially focused development will deliver necessary council housing in St George for young people in need of affordable housing and those at risk of housing crisis, including NHS workers. Bristol City Council, who purchased the ZED PODS development is now working with YMCA Bristol to seek tenants. “This development provides much needed affordable housing in St George for young people and we want to make sure we create a community here,” said the YMCA’s Ben Silvey. “That’s why we are now taking applications for four ‘community builders’ to move in when the site is ready in November. These will effectively be super tenants who are being asked to unite residents and encouraging them to get involved in their community.” ZED PODS are fabricated by Impact Modular in their factory in Peterborough. The units come with the latest low-carbon technologies ensuring ultra-low energy consumption and cheaper running costs. ZED PODS offer full turnkey service from design to completion and has a strong pipeline of over 200 residential units from both public and private sector clients. ZED PODS have recently completed a keyworker accommodation scheme within 12 weeks (from contract to completion) during the lockdown for a healthcare client. Following on from Chalks Road, ZED PODs are building homes for Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust on a Flood Zone 3 land and Bromley Council above one of their car parks.
More at www.zedpods.com
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