London should rise up to deliver affordable homes for key workers

COMMENT History has shown that social and economic recovery is more often than not led by construction. In the wake of the pandemic, housing, once again, is being looked to, and political momentum to “build” our way out of a recession is gaining traction. In Robert Jenrick’s address to the National Housing Federation Summit, he set out how the government’s levelling-up agenda would bring forward a £12bn investment pot over the next five years – apparently the highest single funding commitment since 2010 – for the delivery of quality, affordable homes. And last month, the mayor of London introduced policy to give key workers priority access to new homes across the capital; a significant step to materially recognise the service of London’s key workers and empower housing providers and local authorities to lead the movement. However, “build, build, build” is not synonymous with “build back better”. The very mechanics of affordable housing delivery and allocations policies remain an intractable problem. It is vital that national and local government use this pivotal moment to transform not only how they build, but how they act as guardians of the city’s social security. To achieve a truly sustainable urban development, we must invest in the invisible infrastructure of the city: key workers. Look up The dilemma is that suitable urban building land comes at a cost, leaving little room to cater to the needs of these often lower-paid professionals. At Skyroom, we are calling for a strategic change in the way we view the development potential of the city: a shift in mindset whereby private landlords, housing associations and the public sector look upwards, to value their assets hiding in plain sight. An effective way to increase the supply of homes for key workers is to realise the potential of the land above our heads: the hundreds of thousands of flat rooftops throughout our cities. Using our sustainable urban development solution, we bring together proprietary geospatial mapping technology and structural engineering innovations. We use off-site construction to precision-manufacture the homes, a process which incurs a faction of typical embodied carbon costs. Combined with the efficiencies of MMC, the development programme can be 50% faster and is significantly less disruptive to existing residents and neighbours. To make this a viable opportunity for London, we recently launched the Key Worker Homes Fund to offer £100m to London’s local authorities and housing associations. It offers seed funding and pro bono technical consultancy to support them in unlocking the acres of valuable space in their portfolios and accelerating their housing delivery programmes. Improving the lives of London’s key workers by making it possible to live near where they work – a 15-minute-city model otherwise out of reach – is the mission driving the initiative. More than half of London’s key workers live outside the city, enduring long, expensive commutes to their jobs. Covid-19 has brought long-overdue recognition of the critical role key workers have always played in supporting society and sustaining our cities. And it has exposed that the diverging trajectories of rising house prices and stagnant key worker pay are untenable. At the outbreak of the pandemic the G15 rallied for public and private investment into a key worker homes delivery programme. The Key Worker Homes Fund responds to this call and builds on the white paper we published in September 2018, in conjunction with University College London. In Rise Up, we set out the case for, and advantages of, providing homes for key workers in the airspace above existing buildings. Vision and ingenuity Taking the long view, the need for more affordable homes in an expensive city like London is not going to go away. It is essential we embrace new ways of densifying without simply bulldozing and rebuilding large tracts of urban land or expanding into the green belt. London’s not-so-distant past warns us against creating more urban sprawl: part-time city centres and residential areas, and environmentally ruinous travel patterns. Besides, how much suitable urban building land do we have left? In a relatively low-density city like London, by building upwards, not sprawling outwards, we can create homes faster, more economically, and more sustainably than is achievable with traditional methods of construction. With vision, ingenuity and collaboration, we can unlock the potential of existing apartment buildings, municipal, commercial and leisure centres, to provide thousands of new homes. This is an opportunity for London’s housing providers to pioneer a housing delivery model responsive to the needs of the city and its people. Sustainable, affordable and beautiful homes for key workers is the cornerstone for a functional, let alone thriving, London. Arthur Kay is chief executive at Skyroom  Photo by Ed Robinson/Shell