A number of independent bodies and housing charities have revealed that the amount of new housing being built each year is around only half of the number of new homes that are needed in real terms. This is clearly a situation which cannot be allowed to continue. There is currently a very real and urgent need for the UK’s housing situation to be addressed.

As architects in London, we strive to contribute to addressing the pressing need for brand new residential architecture in London and beyond in order to supply sufficient housing for the population.

We often hear the term “affordable housing” being used when discussing the problem. The cost of a new build home generally reflects all of the expense to get it built, including the land, planning permission, construction work and, of course, the architecture. The challenge to achieving affordable housing in the truest sense is to reduce the costs associated with building as far as possible. We seek to do this by making clever and efficient use of innovative materials and designs, keeping costs as low as possible while producing practical, beautiful homes designed around the needs of the people who live and work in them.

Over the years our team has been invited to participate in a number of contests relating to designing houses that fall within a specific budget. At a superficial level it might seem that we do this to exercise our talents for a bit of fun, but there’s a deeply serious purpose and intention to it. These contests allow us to showcase the fact that low cost, fully functioning houses are possible to design and build, and the competitive aspect helps attract attention to this. We’ve been proud to participate in all competitions of this nature and honoured when we win. The focus must, however, always be on the fact that despite rising costs and increased pressure, affordable architecture is entirely possible to address the current housing shortage.