Radical ideas? Let’s make prefab homes on-island
IT SEEMS to me that Guernsey’s housing crisis is being looked at from the wrong end of the telescope. The problem seems to be a lack of affordable housing and the problem here is that builders are struggling to build affordable housing due to the cost of materials; labour too, but it is the rocketing price of materials that means that practically no one is prepared to give a fixed price. How can they when the cost of a block, for instance, goes up by 25% a week? The cost of plots, too, is obviously a concern but the States has plenty of land earmarked for building as do, for instance, the Coop with Leale’s Yard, where that cost must have been written down years ago. So in those two instances we should be able to build cheaply but can’t due to material and shipping costs.
One solution that should be considered is prefab housing. There are a number of these already in Guernsey spanning the ordinary to the extraordinary. These are no longer a second-class sort of housing; they are attractive, economic, well insulated and can be erected in a very short time compared to a concrete build. They are comfortable and economical to run. So in the short term identify a suitable supplier and get building. In the longer term invest in a sawmill in Germany (where the best sustainable wood is from) and create a factory here in Guernsey to produce the 300 houses a year if that really is the number required. Apart from the benefit of being able to produce affordable housing, there would be the added benefit of profit and population contained here producing taxes and sustainability for the island’s population.
Radical idea? Some of the best are, and certainly there needs to be some thinking outside the box to get this island back on its feet. We need the entrepreneurship, foresight and boldness of action of our forefathers to get us out of this mess. Anybody for action in our present States to work together for the benefit of us all?
jonesmnr@gmail.com