Could 'shipping container' homes on Tesco Tolworth site ease housing demand crisis?

Tesco's failure to persuade the people of Tolworth of the merits of a superstore could be the cue for a village of flatpack box-like homes to ease the housing demand crisis.

YMCA London South West, based in Surbiton, is in talks with Kingston Council about introducing the small 26 square metre units, designed by architect Richard Rogers, somewhere in the borough. The site at Tolworth, which has been empty since it was bought from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries in 2002 would be one of the dream homes for the portable, stackable Y-cube homes.

The portable homes look like shipping containers and are a tight 26sq m unit. They have a lounge, kitchen facilities and bedroom with ensuite bathroom. The charity says they are a cost-effective alternative for poor and homeless people who cannot afford to buy or rent privately. A prototype of the Y:Cube is currently outside YMCA Wimbledon, with plans for the first Y:Cube housing scheme comprising of 36 units to open in Mitcham by the end of this year. Andy Redfearn, YMCA director of development, said the charity had held talks about bringing a scheme to Kingston – with the former Ministry site in Tolworth mooted as a potential site.

Tesco withdrew an application for a supermarket, hotel and 269 flats on the site next to the A3 earlier this month – the third time since 2002 it had scrapped plans following opposition from councillors and the public. The supermarket giant has now ditched its supermarket plans altogether, and promised to create a residential-led development that would make a “major contribution to Kingston’s housing needs”.

The Y:Cube has been designed by architects Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners, and will be offered to single people who are former YMCA residents or on the waiting list for a council home. Each timber-made unit is constructed off-site, and can be stacked side by side or on top of each other – meaning whole developments could potentially be taken apart and relocated if needed. At an estimated £70,000 a unit, the Y:Cube is cheaper to build than other housing developments, and each unit will be let at 65 per cent the normal market rent. The prototype outside Wimbledon YMCA will be open to the public on Thursday, April 3, from 10am to 2pm.

Comments

If this could be guaranteed to be a temporary measure until the full Tesco housing plans are seen,it might be a good idea.

My reservations are that it would prove jolly difficult if not impossible to uproot and relocate the occupants of such a development as there would be very few alternative sites.

This huge plot deserves a most sensitive and high occupancy development if it is to realise its true potential for the borough. It must be a landmark development that is the envy of SW London and incorporate new road access points and ideally something really useful like a simple swimming pool as both Kingston and New Malden have very poor pools that are always oversubscribed.

In keeping with the cycle fanatics provision for 2/3000 bikes must be built for accessing the rail service which should be increased to 4 an hour until crossrail 2 comes in.

I came across this BBC feature showing what the Y:Cube looks like inside and out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27381656

Post new comment

  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <p>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Filtered words will be replaced with the filtered version of the word.

More information about formatting options

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

By posting content on Surbiton.com, you agree to adhere to the following guidelines.

  • Your username and password must only be used by you, keep them safe. If a posting is made using your username and password it will be considered to have been posted by you. If you have a friend who wants to use our site and post messages on the site, show them how to register.
  • Be courteous at all times, inciting racial hatred, posting abusive, obscene, threatening, harassing, defamatory, libellous or sexually explicit material or any material that is found to be offensive is not acceptable and we may suspend your username and password.
  • Retaliating to offensive posts causes more problems for other users on the discussion boards. Just report such messages to us using the Feedback link which is available at the top of every page or the 'report this' link associated with individual postings. We will act on every report we receive.
  • Please respect other people's work and do not post material that infringes copyright.
  • Do not post information that you know to be confidential or sensitive or otherwise in breach of the law. You should only post material that you know to be public knowledge. If you have any doubts do not post it on the site.
  • Never attempt to gain unauthorised access to any area of the site. This is known as hacking and is illegal.
  • Content posted represents the opinions of the author, and does not represent the opinions of Surbiton.com or its affiliates and has not been approved or issued by Surbiton.com. You should be aware that the other participants are strangers to you and may make statements which may be misleading, deceptive or wrong.
  • Spoofing or posing as another user is unacceptable. Anonymous users' postings should always be considered with suspicion.
  • Help keep Surbiton.com a safe place for information and opinion. Please alert us of any anti-social behaviour as described above.
Please note that Surbiton.com does not monitor the comments posted and we are therefore reliant upon users reporting antisocial behaviour.