RCKa installs prototype modular solution to housing crisis outside City Hall

A modular home made by offsite design contractor Rollalong and installed by Wates Residential has been placed outside London’s City Hall until late September.

One in 21 children in London is currently homeless, with the cost to local authorities of housing homeless families in temporary accommodation almost reaching £4m each day.

The green modular residence is being seen as a potential solution to the growing temporary accommodation crisis in the capital and across Britain.

The home, which is designed by RCKa architects, will stay outside the Mayor’s Office for 28 days before it moves to a new location as part of an ongoing tour. 

Deputy Mayor of London for housing and residential development, Tom Copley, said: “We all recognise we’ve got a housing crisis in London, and for people who are homeless and living in temporary accommodation, they are at the absolute sharpest end of this. 

“One of the key solutions is building the homes that we need, and in particular, social rented homes. And we also need interim solutions as well, while we build the social rented homes that we desperately need. That’s why solutions like this are so vital.”

RCKa, Rollalong, Wates developed the prototype over the past nine months and it was constructed in Rollalong’s Dorset factory. The modular home has a 60-year lifespan and can be installed in a couple of hours.

The first scheme is planned for Havering later this year, with the installation of the first of three homes. So far, plans are underway for 18 modular homes to be placed on land earmarked for future development.

Although they won’t be permanent, the idea is to give residents somewhere stable to live for up to six years before the units are moved to another available site.

Wates has already delivered a similar initiative in Cardiff and is collaborating with other providers to roll out comparable projects across the UK. 

Approximately 90,000 additional social homes need to be built every year over the next decade in England to address the housing crisis. Between 2022 and 2023 just 9,500 were built. 

Currently, across the UK there are 130,000 households - including over 169,000 children - living in temporary accommodation. Many of these families are being placed in hotel rooms, bed and breakfasts, and other unsuitable accommodation for months, even years, because there aren’t enough homes available.  

In London, there ae 73,000 households in living in temporary accommodation - including 94,000 children - costing London boroughs £114 million per month.