igloo Rejects ‘Greed-Driven’ Identikit Houses

igloo Rejects ‘Greed-Driven’ Identikit Houses

The UK government has shortlisted a team of igloo Regeneration, architects MawsonKerr and sustainability consultants Useful Simple Trust as one of six winners of the Home of 2030 competition.

The cross-government initiative, which includes MHCLG, BEIS and DHSC, attracted 200 entries and is aiming to drive innovation in the provision of affordable, efficient and healthy green homes for all.

Commenting on the successful competition bid, igloo’s chair Chris Brown said: “We’re on a crusade to abolish greed-driven identikit development on soulless estates.

“igloo champions citizens and communities against the corporate stranglehold over placemaking in the UK. After Covid-19, people will want their towns and cities back, to make beautiful places where home schooling and working from home is designed in – not an afterthought – and where the climate, nature and community are prioritised over profit.”

The winning entry

The igloo entry is called +Home.

 +Home helps communities to build green, walkable, vibrant neighbourhoods themselves, bypassing traditional housebuilders.

Instead of standard house designs on boring housing estates, it proposes community-led and self-build homes that people can design themselves.

The homes are simple to build, with flexible, affordable frames and components, and are climate friendly to build and run.

The concept innovatively addresses the climate and nature emergencies by being planet positive, with zero ‘UpFront’ and ‘InUse’ carbon, alongside the pro-active re-wilding of urban neighbourhoods.

Judith Sykes of Useful Projects said: “To meet national carbon targets, we need to be building new homes today that go beyond net zero.  In the +Home of 2030, residents become energy generators and it’s not just operational energy that we have tackled.  Our manufacturing method is founded on circular economy principles to minimise embedded upfront and lifecycle impacts. We are looking forward to demonstrating how +Home can be delivered at scale.”

Will Mawson of MawsonKerr said: “There has never been a more pressing time to tackle the challenges posed by the Home of 2030 competition; the core issues align with what we have been working on at MawsonKerr over the last 10 years and having a platform to explore and challenge outdated and poorly driven models is something that excites us. We look forward to working with this talented team in the next phase.”