AFFORDABLE GREEN PREFABS

A British architect believes he may have developed a solution for the shortage of lower-cost housing in locations like Britain and Hong Kong.

Tony Kettle, group director of British-based RMJM Architects, has designed a prefabricated housing unit that he claims is not only relatively cheap and quick to build but also inexpensive to run.

Mr Kettle has created MiLoft, a modular home built from steel and timber that can have one, two, three or four bedrooms. A one-bedroom unit costs about £55,000 to build. Needing only shallow foundations, a MiLoft block takes five months to build, twice as fast as conventional housing, and can be built to a maximum of 18 storeys.

"It is all about minimum cost, minimum assembly time and minimum energy use," he said. "This is about quality as well. It is about creating the type of environment that you would like to live in."

A conventionally built, six-storey apartment building in Britain or Hong Kong costs between £1,000 and £1,100 per square metre to build, according to Mr Kettle. That compares with a cost of £900 to £1,000 per square metre for a MiLoft building because of the savings in construction time and standardisation of components.

Units would be manufactured so that walls, doors and windows can be made sufficiently tight-fitting to give high levels of insulation, according to Mr Kettle.

An energy-saving mechanical ventilation heat recovery system will be used, the first time this had been done for flats. Invented by Max Fordham Consulting Engineers, the technology reuses hot or cold air to regulate temperature.

The combined effects of this ventilation system and tight insulation meant MiLoft apartments would have lower running costs than for conventional housing Mr Kettle said. In hot countries they needed fewer air-conditioners and dehumidifiers running. In cold countries, recycled heat from domestic appliances and the apartment's occupants would be enough to keep them warm.

"This is a new concept as it combines high-quality space with low energy, highly insulated apartments with high levels of airtightness and unitised construction at an affordable price," he said.

Fully glazed on one side, natural daylight can flood through the open plan, contemporary-looking apartments, helping to reduce lighting costs.

To improve residents' sense of wellbeing and to reduce CO2 emissions, plants would be grown in communal areas, like stairways and on roof gardens, Mr Kettle envisaged. In another Green initiative, rainwater collected on the roof would be used to flush toilets.

Units would be manufactured close to where they would be built to reduce transport costs, and timber would come from sustainable sources.

RMJM launched MiLoft at the MIPM property industry conference in Cannes, France last month. European politicians, developers and housing executives are taking an interest in it.
Although the concept has not been marketed in Asia yet, early interest has been encouraging.

"Last week, I saw a Chinese bank and they seemed to really like it," Mr Kettle said. "Their eyes lit up."