Last week Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced numerous initiatives which include setting up a national infrastructure bank, ongoing Covid-19 support and extension of stamp duty holiday. He’s also appealed to environmental investors by launching the world’s first sovereign green bond, which he hopes will help drive the Prime Minister’s ten-point plan to shift the UK to net-zero by 2050.
Let’s hope he’s right.
While the Chancellor’s measures will support those who have struggled the most during the pandemic, the Annual Homelessness Monitor, published by the charity Crisis, found that 94 per cent of councils expect an increase in people made homeless.
Here at ZED PODS, we have worked through the 2020 pandemic and built an energy-efficient key worker accommodation "Captain Sir Thomas Moore House" for keyworkers within 13 weeks. We have also constructed an award-winning, net-zero carbon, 100 per cent social rent scheme "Hope Rise" above a public car park for young vulnerable care leavers.
We are currently working with a number of local authorities to deliver modular homes for vulnerable people as part of the Rough Sleepers Accommodation fund released last year.
We welcome Rishi’s initiative to build a "MMC task force" to "accelerate the delivery of MMC homes in the UK". Here at ZED PODS, we have already accelerated to build more MMC homes for our clients. Construction work is presently underway to build a 25-unit affordable, net-zero housing scheme above a public car park for London Borough of Bromley – the first-ever of its kind for the borough and London.
Incidentally, the Affordable Housing Programme 2021-2026 has been expanded, allowing profit-making firms and local authorities to enter into long-term funding partnerships to build thousands of affordable homes. The applicants, however, must state how they can meet the strategic objectives of the funding which includes:
delivering at least 25 per cent of homes using MMC
working with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
use of the national design guide and approach to sustainability
We at ZED PODS are happy to help.
