October 14, 2019 3.20 pm This story is over 68 months old

Developer looks to tackle housing land shortages with innovative designs

New homes could be built above existing car parks
How the newly-designed houses could look.

A Lincolnshire housing association is looking into new ways of fitting much-needed housing into areas with limited space.

Larkfleet Group has applied for permission to build a prototype pair of “elevated modular houses” on Austendyke Road, in Weston Hills, for five years.

The group says the new designs could potentially be built in areas which already have “part-time land use”, such as car parks, without needing to replace the facilities.

Larkfleet says the research will allow it to “design, construct and test new technology that does not currently exist around the world”.

An example of the modular designed home, without the frame.

Documents to South Holland District Council say: “The application intends to research how the innovative and contemporary design of dwellings can work to provide housing in areas of land supply shortage, and particularly in areas where land is only in use part of the time, in a number of potential settings/locations, whilst meeting the needs of modern generations who require functional efficient housing space.”

The applicant adds that the housing could also be made to be more resilient to flooding because of its raised floor levels and adaptations to materials, electrics and plumbing.

The buildings will fit in spaces above eight standard-sized parking spaces and will be “open plan” with a front balcony and bike storage area.

It will include electric car charging points incorporated into the frame.

Larkfleet’s elevating house, which raises a home to 1.5m above the ground, is already being built nearby.

The research will be carried out close to another of the group’s projects – the elevating house.

This experimental project, currently being built, sees a three-bedroom detached house that can be raised up to 1.5 metres above ground level using mechanical jacks.

The aim is raise the building well ahead of the arrival of flood waters, based on advanced warnings from the Environment Agency and Larkfleet says the 65-tone houses can be jacked up in “less than five minutes”.

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