The spirited British architect Bill Dunster is applying the knowledge he has acquired over decades of working on sustainable projects: He has a clever response to the housing shortage in Greater London that is affordable, sensible, environmentally friendly, attractive, and flexible. His concept might seem utopian. But only at first glance.

The LafargeHolcim Awards Bronze 2017 Europe winning zero carbon ZEDpod is a prefabricated home with a difference. The approach decouples housing provision from land prices by installing the units with “air rights” over car parks, offering almost instant high-quality housing solutions without the land and planning issues associated with a conventional new build.

As one of the three main LafargeHolcim Awards winners for Europe in 2017, “Air Rights” automatically qualified as a finalist in the Global LafargeHolcim Awards 2018. All 15 finalist project teams were asked to submit an updated and more comprehensive entry that was evaluated by a global jury in March 2018.

View project entry posters – Global Holcim Awards

The results of the global phase of the 5th LafargeHolcim Awards competition were announced on March 28, 2018.

Read full media release – Global LafargeHolcim Awards 2018

The days when the sustainability of a construction project was a matter of ad hoc measures are over – sustainable construction has become systematic and specific. This was emphatically shown by the results of the Holcim Awards in region Europe: The first prize was shared by two projects in Brussels, both of which excel in terms of their multi-functionality.

To partially reduce London’s housing shortage, the project proposes a straightforward and resourceful solution, namely, to construct living units on elevated platforms over public parking spaces all over the city. Intended for young people and municipal workers (firefighters, nurses, police personnel, etc.), the units are economically affordable, insofar as land costs are replaced by the leasing of air rights. The building units are entirely based on prefabricated elements that can easily be assembled on site, thus further reducing construction costs. Adhering to the principle of minimizing emissions in the building sector in general, the project avoids the use of fossil energy for both the manufacturing process as well as for operations and maintenance – contributing, in effect, to a low-carbon architecture.

One of the solutions to the affordable homes crisis

ZEDpods provide first homes for young people and key municipal workers – erected above existing parking lots close to amenities and jobs. The sites use the benefits of car parks such as good transport links, workplace locations, in situ local amenities, as low carbon homes that reduce strain on the existing infrastructure. Built on land outside of the development plan, there are public parking spaces in the UK with suitability for up to 200,000 ZEDpods. Fully-funded model allows Local Authorities to build affordable homes without the need to find land or capital expenditure.