Edel (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} lazysunbather) wrote,@ 2008-01-30 12:28:00 |
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Brief modern living
Ikea Enters The Housing Market
Ikea, the Swedish furniture retailer that made flat pack furniture trendy, has become Britain's newest housing developer.
The homes are cheap and cheerfulAfter selling an estimated thirty million Billy bookcases around the world, the company is now building prefabricated wooden homes on Tyneside.
Shipped over from Scandinavia, where the firm has already put up 3,500 of its BokLok homes, the buildings are being erected on site and will be sold as low-cost 'affordable' housing.
The development, opposite Gateshead's International Stadium, is a mix of shared-ownership, rented accommodation and outright sale.
There are 36 flats and 47 houses available for households earning between £15,000 and £35,000 a year who are not already homeowners.
They cost under £100,000 per flat and £150,000 for a house.
The firm says the houses will have a Swedish feel - with open plan rooms, high ceilings and big windows.
People wanting to move in had to register their interest at Ikea's Gateshead store in October, and Britain's first BokLok tenants and owners will be moving in soon.
Only then will they discover if they have got all the bits they need or whether they have to go back to the store for more of those strange screws and an allen key.
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It's a novelty but is it an investment? Cycling home along the Stillorgan road, I watch the cranes arrive with ready made concrete walls and giant panes of glass. I asked an architect friend what the shelf life of such buildings are and he said that the manufacturer would only guarantee the building for 20 years. It really depends on whether you want to live in a flat with bricks or a prefab I suppose if its a greener living experience and suits the climate that is a plus for most people but 20 years!
Ikea Enters The Housing Market
Ikea, the Swedish furniture retailer that made flat pack furniture trendy, has become Britain's newest housing developer.
The homes are cheap and cheerfulAfter selling an estimated thirty million Billy bookcases around the world, the company is now building prefabricated wooden homes on Tyneside.
Shipped over from Scandinavia, where the firm has already put up 3,500 of its BokLok homes, the buildings are being erected on site and will be sold as low-cost 'affordable' housing.
The development, opposite Gateshead's International Stadium, is a mix of shared-ownership, rented accommodation and outright sale.
There are 36 flats and 47 houses available for households earning between £15,000 and £35,000 a year who are not already homeowners.
They cost under £100,000 per flat and £150,000 for a house.
The firm says the houses will have a Swedish feel - with open plan rooms, high ceilings and big windows.
People wanting to move in had to register their interest at Ikea's Gateshead store in October, and Britain's first BokLok tenants and owners will be moving in soon.
Only then will they discover if they have got all the bits they need or whether they have to go back to the store for more of those strange screws and an allen key.
----------------------------------------
It's a novelty but is it an investment? Cycling home along the Stillorgan road, I watch the cranes arrive with ready made concrete walls and giant panes of glass. I asked an architect friend what the shelf life of such buildings are and he said that the manufacturer would only guarantee the building for 20 years. It really depends on whether you want to live in a flat with bricks or a prefab I suppose if its a greener living experience and suits the climate that is a plus for most people but 20 years!
