Southwark – Godinterest

A portable, demountable or transportable building is one of the many pre-fabricated house types which can be put to good use when planning constraints will only allow short-term development. Modules and components can be taken apart and transported to a new location. Even elements such as foundations can be easily removed using demountable technologies. In Australia the word “demountable” in particular refers to portable classrooms.

Prefab Housing Has Been Heralded as the Future of Building and the Solution to Resolve Housing Shortages in the Uk.

The Wyndham Road Project

Britainâ€™s first demountable multistorey housing development

Britain’s Second demountable multistorey housing development

Client: Hyde Housing Association

Architect: PCKO

Principal Supplier: BUMA

The Wyndham Road project, incorporating 18 flats for key workers, was completed in summer 2005, designed as part of RAPID (Response to Accommodation Pressures through Innovative Design), Hyde’s response to the Government’s initiative to increase the supply of new housing through use of innovative technology.

This Scheme on Wyndham Road, South-east London, Was the Second Buma-built Project in the Uk.

The scheme comprised one and two-bedroom flats, built around three independent staircases, designed to modern, high-quality standards. Demountable construction is designed to accommodate any future changes to the urban fabric, therefore addressing the issue of urban sustainability and required flexibility. Demountability was built in right through to the foundations with the use of screw piles to hold up the structure.

The development could then be dismantled in 9-10 days and erected on an alternative site, remodelled or recycled, as required. Elevations finished with lightweight metal cladding and insulated render incorporate full-height glazing and feature sliding shutters of galvanised steel and timber, painted in vivid colours, giving the building a unique identity. The building was designed as 3-storey but could have been extended to 4-storey by adding additional volumetric components.

A 3-dimensional system involving modules or pods which is the basic building block of much prefabricated construction. Several designers are experimenting with making this form adaptable to more than apartments. The majority of new high-density developments in London provide only flatted accommodation and ignore the needs of families. While the argument for more homes at a higher density is understood, should this policy exclude families? And what sort of city would London become?

For the past three years the architects have been examining opportunities for high-density urban family housing on a number of initiatives in Southwark, Ealing and Harrow. Using modular construction techniques the ‘courtyard’ homes deliver more space for less cost. Arranged in typical urban blocks and at no more than three storey densities they produce some 80 dwellings per hectare.

The house delivers flexible open plan ground floors with circulation spaces that are naturally lit. With both a courtyard and an upper terrace each house benefits from at least 40m2 of external space. More importantly this space is entirely private to the dwelling and is directly related to the kitchen, living and bedroom spaces. These are external rooms, a far cry for a patch of green, sandwiched between close boarded fencing and overlooked by the neighbours.

New Urban Homes IMAGE CREDIT: PROCTOR AND MATTHEWS

Courtyard and covered entrance view IMAGE CREDIT: PROCTOR AND MATTHEWS

The five steel modules required for each house are delivered on low loaders and craned onto preprepared footings. All modules are fully fitted-out in the factory. The technology allows different fenestration arrangements, cladding options and roofing forms.

Architect: Proctor and Matthews
Principal Supplier: Spaceover

Tag: Southwark

The Wyndham Road Project, Southwark

New Urban Homes