Ikea Village Without the Allen Key
by Bonnie Alter, London on 02.27.08
A new community of 93 pre-fab houses designed by Ikea is popping up as we read this, and you won't need to worry about putting it together. Ikea has teamed up with a British builder and they are making Swedish style prefabs for moderate income key workers such as nurses and teachers. Seen as a way for them to get onto the property ladder, these houses will sell for $260,000 for a two bedroom townhouse. Assembled in a factory nearby, they get to the site ready to be bolted together and take about 16 weeks from start to completion.
The system is called BoKlok (Ikea speak for smart living) and was developed in conjunction with Ikea. Already in Glasgow, and now in Gateshead, the houses and apartments are designed with British and Ikea architects, built of sustainable materials and are energy efficient. They claim to use good planning principles in the surrounding community with lots of green space and parks, recycling facilities, and close to public transport. You even get a voucher for $500 worth of Ikea products and a session with their interior designer. :: Guardian
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Maybe treehugger.com is only interested because they're prefabs. However, I hope you also took note of the fact that they are sold in a way that respects people's right to own (by imposing restrictions on who can buy, thereby keeping the price down). I sincerely hope to see more of this in the future. Houses should not be investment vehicles!
Interesting to read about IKEA working with British builders to set up houses. However I cant understand why they should take 16 weeks from start to finish if they are already fabricated in the factory. Here in Sweden an ordinary house, that has been fabricated in a factory can be finished in a couple of days.