Modular Pods to become affordable housing above Car Park

An affordable housing project will see 11 one- and two-bedroom ‘pods’ built using modular technology above the Chalks Road car park in Bristol.

A scheme to build 11 low-carbon, affordable homes above a car park has been granted planning permission by Bristol City Council.

The project was proposed by housing developer ZED Pods, which specialises in the manufacture of rapid build, affordable modular homes require minimal land for construction

The firm is now planning to build nine one-bedroom and two two-bedroom ‘pods’ above the Chalks Road car park next to St George Park in Bristol. Four of the units will be let at social rent, as the company seeks to signpost a way to create affordable, low carbon housing alongside existing land use.

Once all of the relevant planning conditions have been met, ZED Pods will begin production of the pods at the Peterborough factory of its partner Lesko Modular Group.

The modular ‘pods’ that are delivered to the site will include hard fixtures, such as a kitchen including fridge/cooker/hobs and a wet room with shower, loo, and washbasin.

Advocates of modular building techniques maintain that they can deliver high quality homes quickly and in a resource, carbon, and labour efficient manner that cuts down on costs and environmental impacts.

“The ZEDPods development rethinks existing land use, demonstrating a new possibility in helping solve the housing crisis, whilst at the same time providing beautiful, low carbon housing that lasts,” said Dr Rehan Khodabuccus, operations director at ZED Pods.

“Our focus on a 100 per cent sustainable end-of-life construction solution involves an integrated roof mounted solar array, a super insulated building envelope with triple glazed windows, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery coupled with a design that gives exceptional levels of daylighting resulting in extremely low running costs.”

This project is a collaboration between Bristol Housing Festival, ZED Pods Ltd, a Bristol based Housing Association, the YMCA Bristol, Bristol and Bath Regional Capital and Bristol City Council.

“Bristol City Council’s decision to support this development is great news for Bristol,” said Jez Sweetland, Project Director for Bristol Housing Festival. “Our initial plans were for seven pods, however we are now able to provide 11 pods through this planning approval. We are excited that this Festival project is a quality, low carbon build with great sustainability credentials and we look forward to seeing the pods completed.”

Source: BusinessGreen

https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/3078872/low-carbon-homes-to-be-built-above-bristol-car-park