Modular housing to deal with growing demand

A former council owned garage in South Acton is to be be replaced with prefabs for families in need of emergency accommodation.

The Enfield Road  location will have 44 modular units. This project follows on from a previously agreed plan to use a site in Bordars Road, Hanwell, which will have up to 32 of these pre-fabricated units.

It is part of a raft of initiatives the council is working on to help boost housing supply in the borough for people in need.

Councillor Jasbir Anand, the council’s cabinet member for housing, employment and skills, said:

“Ealing, together with many other London boroughs, is facing a significant increase in demand for housing and accommodation.

“The council is working very hard to provide as many housing and accommodation options as possible to help meet the overwhelming demand and a number of strategies have been put in place to best prepare us for the challenges ahead.

“This project is one of many we are undertaking to help boost housing supply for the people who need it most. The modular homes will be used as an interim measure while more permanent places can be found for residents facing homelessness. This scheme will also reduce the council’s reliance on bed and breakfast rental, which can prove expensive.”

The proposal for the site in Enfield Road includes a laundry, landscaping, outdoor seating and amenities space, and a play area for children under 10. The individual units will each house between two and six people.

Following a tendering process in November 2014, joint bidders, Mears Ltd and Snoozebox, were awarded the contract to construct and supply the units at both sites.

Other initiatives under way as part of Ealing Council’s strategy to increase housing supply include the construction of new homes, new hostel spaces, use of vacated flats on housing estates awaiting regeneration, conversion of empty shops into homes, purchase of property on the open market and rehousing people outside of London.

Construction work on the sites is due to commence in June, 2015.

For more information about housing visit www.ealing.gov.uk/housing