Property News: Could sea containers throw lifeline to borough’s social housing crisis? Architect Richard Burton says they can

Published: 24 February 2011
by DAN CARRIER

THERE has long been the claim that London has run out of room for new social housing, and that home-builders need to look at areas further afield such as the Thames Gateway.

But what does this mean for the thousands of people who have grown up in Camden and would like to live in their neighbourhoods, or for the key workers who keep our public services going? A commute from a new town outside of the capital each day because of the continuous gentrification of the borough is neither desirable on their part, nor for those who want to live in a vibrant and mixed community.

Camden Council housing chief Labour councillor Julian Fulbrook has made it one of the main aims of his tenure to find new plots for social housing – and has been scouring council-owned land for spare pockets he can use. Cllr Fulbrook estimates, with the help of private finance, he will be able to create 10,000 new homes a year. It is estimated that around 23,000 people are eligible for social housing in Camden but are stuck on a waiting list.

One of the issues facing the Town Hall is cost. While surveys have found a plethora of old council-owned garages, car parks and unused open spaces that could be used for small-scale developments, the Town Hall may have to offer 50 per cent of the land for homes sold privately to bring in the required funds. 

The solution to the problem could be in the form of a scheme first mooted back in 2003. Architect Eric Reynolds, who was one of the founders of the Camden Lock markets, had set up a new office complex on the banks of the Thames using reconditioned sea containers. He saw the way they could be turned into low-cost materials for new housing. He paired up with architect Richard Burton, and the partners found a space in Falkland Road, Kentish Town. Using the shipping containers as the basis, they showed how they could recycle these units as the building blocks to make ultra-modern pre-fabricated housing.

Mr Burton, who designed the British Embassy in Moscow. said: “We found a number of sites and thought we could demonstrate how well this would work at Falkland Road.

“This has potential for making flats very cheaply and quickly at a very high specification by using sea containers.

“They have been built to withstand a minimum of 25 years at sea. Once clad, they are perfect for house-building and have various advantages over other materials.”

One example of how a sea container project could solve housing problems is the former British Rail land at the back of Little Green Street, Kentish Town, says Mr Burton. For more than 20 years developers have wanted to build housing there but the 30-home scheme floundered because of issues over access. If sea container were used as the building blocks, it would simply be a matter of getting the ground work down – laying drains and other utilities – and then craning in the readily converted containers.

It is estimated that there are as many sea containers currently floating about the world’s oceans as there are being used for transport. The Falkland Road project, which did not get through the planning process, was to build eight units for nurses, with the NHS offering to guarantee rents for the next 25 years. They would be for one and two-bedroom units.

Mr Burton was working at the time as a senior adviser for the NHS, tackling the issue of decent and affordable homes for the nurses who work in London’s major hospitals. With the Royal Free selling off nursing hostels, due to what they said was the type of accommodation nurses would no longer want to live in – shared bathrooms and dining areas with student-style rooms – the urgent need for affordable homes was obvious. Now they hope the schemes could be resurrected by the current administration and offer a viable plan to cut into Camden’s acute housing shortages.

“Pre-fab housing became a solution to an urgent situation during the war and became much loved,” said Mr Burton.

“It goes against the idea that you simply must build with brick. It means pre-fab buildings seems quite hard for people to get their heads round at first. This is very frustrating for us.”

The sea container scheme can bring in new homes at around £700 per square foot, while more traditional buildings cost over £1,000 per square foot. 

Mr Burton added: “This is an idea that should be resurrected and could have a real impact on the housing shortages in our borough. With no need to offer any space for private housing to pay for it, they could be 100 per cent affordable.”

Cllr Fulbrook said: “It certainly looks like an innovative idea. I have asked officers to check it out urgently.”