A house designer has been awarded a UK patent for its approach to transforming unwanted and disused garage sites into affordable new homes.
The patent covers HUSK’s modular solution for the creation of one and two-bedroomed homes on previously undevelopable brownfield sites.
The firm’s Homes England-compliant house type, which meets new NDSS (National Described Space Standard) requirements, has been tipped to contribute to the battle against the UK’s housing shortage.
The concept sees frameworks and structures engineered and built offsite before being erected on sites where they are fully finished, kitted out and connected to local services as part of a turnkey redevelopment project.
Because they are created around existing garage structures, the properties are classed as refurbishments and are described as being ‘highly energy efficient’, taking advantage of high-performance building materials in their construction.
Newcastle-based HUSK is working with a number of social housing providers to bring forward schemes using its method. Several sites, including one in County Durham, are already under development .
Russell Edwards, MD of HUSK, said, “We are delighted to secure this patent. There’s a huge shortage of decent affordable housing in this country and we believe that innovative approaches such as ours can contribute significantly to meeting the need and creating great places for people to live in and build new communities.
“Our designs take advantage of existing sites that have fallen in to decline and are intended to make it easier and more cost-effective for developers to deliver environmentally efficient homes with a unique look and contemporary feel.”
The HUSK concept has been developed by Russell Edwards, who also runs Newcastle architectural practice, Edwards Architecture.
