Second flatpack homes site announced

Live Smart @ Home announced that it has chosen Sunderland as the next location for the BoKlok (pronounced ‘Boo Klook’) homes.

It follows completion of the first phase of a BoKlok development in Gateshead earlier this year.

The homes were pioneered by Ikea and proved a hit in Scandinavia before the furniture giant brought the concept to the UK last year and teamed up with Live Smart @ Home.

A planning application for about 100 homes in the Hendon area of the city is being prepared for submission later this month, and if successful, the developer hopes to start work on the site in the autumn.

Mike Kirk, development director for Live Smart @ Home, told edie the site was chosen as part of the company’s commitment to regenerating inner city areas.

He said: “It’s a depressed area where a lot of housing was demolished through slum clearance and there is unemployment.

“That part of Sunderland has a very low occupation, so if we can attract first-time buyers, we could start to regenerate it.”

The homes will, like their predecessors in Gateshead, be expected to meet high eco-homes standards, use green building materials, and will be designed to minimise energy use, such as reducing the need for electric lighting by installing large windows.

The flatpack construction methods will also save energy and wastage.

It is expected that prospective buyers will again be able to apply for the homes – which could start at a price of about £120,000 for outright ownership – at the nearest Ikea store.

Mr Kirk told edie the company is also in talks with local authorities in Coventry, Stevenage and Peterborough, as well as a private landowner in Edinburgh, in a bid to secure more sites for BoKlok homes.

The first residents of the BoKlok development in Gateshead are set to move in next month.

The moving in date had to be pushed back as the site has not yet been connected to the electricity grid.

Kate Martin