Manchester’s Igloo shortlisted in Home of 2030 competition

The Government has selected a team comprising Igloo Regeneration, MawsonKerr architects and sustainability advisory Useful Simple Trust among the six finalists of its competition to deliver affordable, healthy and eco-friendly ‘homes of the future’.

Igloo Regeneration’s shortlisted bid to the Home of 2030 competition is part of the Manchester-based firm’s “crusade to abolish greed-driven identikit development on soulless estates”, according to company chair Chris Brown.

“We champion citizens and communities against the corporate stranglehold over placemaking in the UK,” he declared.

“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 [to the process], not as an afterthought, and where the climate, nature and community are prioritised over profit.”

The cross-government initiative, which includes the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department of Health and Social Care, aims to encourage the housing industry to design affordable, environmentally friendly homes that help people to lead leading independent, fulfilling lives as our society ages.

The competition attracted 200 entries, and gained further momentum following housing secretary Robert Jenrick’s announcement of proposed reforms to the UK planning system, with a particular focus on policies to deliver more tree-lined streets and environmentally sustainable homes across the country.

The Igloo-led consortium’s entry is called +Home. It proposes community-led and self-build homes that people can design themselves, “instead of standard house designs on boring housing estates”, according to the company.

The homes would be simple to build, with flexible, affordable frames and other structural components, and would be climate-friendly to build and run, with zero upfront and in-use carbon production.

There would also be a focus on “re-wilding” urban neighbourhoods, with the proposed project helping communities to build green, walkable, vibrant neighbourhoods themselves, bypassing traditional housebuilders.

Will Mawson, director 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 over the last 10 years, so having a platform to explore and challenge outdated and poorly driven models is something that excites us. We look forward to working…on the next phase.”

Judith Sykes, director of Useful Projects, added: “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.”

The other five shortlisted entrants are:

  • Changebuilding with Perpendicular Architecture, Humblebee, ECOSystems Technologies and Arup
  • HLM Architects with the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and Green Build
  • Openstudio Architects
  • Outpost Architects and team
  • Studio OPEN

More information can be found here.

 

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