Housing solution my arse, its a wendy house for grown ups

[Grumpmeister]

?50,000 for this? that has to be one of the most crackpot ideas I've ever heard of. Granted affordable houseing is a priority at the moment but lets keep the plans at least vaguely realistic.

An eight-foot aluminium box is being touted as the solution to the housing shortage. But what's it like to sleep, eat, wash and entertain in one? BBC News's Rajesh Mirchandani did just that.

 I've brought a cat, to see if I can swing it. I can. It's stuffed - the cat, that is - so don't worry.

Even Paris Hilton's prison cell is bigger than this, although I doubt it had as many mod cons. Just old lags.



The sleek lines on the outside of my cube house are repeated within. It has a futuristic, ordered look about it, tastefully done in shades of calming grey.

The front door leads straight into a combined shower/toilet cubicle which poses a few interesting logistical questions, but ultimately can save time (although I end up brushing my teeth in the kitchen sink, unwilling to perform this ablution in such close proximity to the privy).

Three steps takes me from the front door to the back of the house, where the kitchen is compact and very usable. Just don't try and fit too many items into the tiny fridge.
 


The rest of the house is a geometric labyrinth of drawers, shelves and folding panels which turn into bed frames and seats, and which all disappear under the floor or into the wall, giving more storage options.

There's a nifty dining table which pulls out from under some drawers: very clever but I'm not sure I'd want to manoeuvre it in and out every day. The bed pulls down from the wall into a comfortable sleeping area that's not at all cramped.

I don't feel claustrophobic at any time - even with 12 guests round for a party. Not a world record attempt, just a test to see if you really can lead a normal life here. Twelve, I realise, is perhaps four too many for such a small space. Which is, ahem, the first time I've found myself too popular.

Pied-a-terre

Once the guests leave, it's a real pleasure to potter around (admittedly with everything within arm's reach), under the soothing glow of the low energy lights, in my well-insulated cocoon.


 
It's a very tranquil place but at the same time it's a bit of an adventure - there's always something to slide out or under, pull down, tuck away, generally fiddle with, if only out of the need for space. To live here you have to be ordered: to do one thing, you have to finish another first and put it away. And that may be my and other compact-livers' downfall.

Two of my party guests, students both, thought it was cool for parties but that they had too much "stuff" to be able to live here. Would a key worker, at whom these pods are aimed, not be in the same position?

At ?50,000 (fully installed and functioning), it could be a starter home for someone struggling with today's house prices, but a better option might be a crash-pad for someone who works five days a week in one location and goes home at the weekend.

Affordable housing is again a key issue of our times. As the architect told me, living in an eight-foot cube isn't for everyone, but it may be for some.

[Barman]

Didn't they invent that years ago? 

[Snoopy]

Didn't they invent that years ago? 

I see the Foreign Secretary has dropped by then Barman

[Mozo]

It's great for me!  I'll take two . . .  one for my budgie.  whistle:

[Grumpmeister]

To be honest I'm just waiting for the next 'government sponsored' drive to buy up loads of these things, shove them in a frame and turn them into quick build prisons or immigration centres.

[Darwins Selection]

To be honest I'm just waiting for the next 'government sponsored' drive to buy up loads of these things, shove them in a frame and turn them into quick build prisons or immigration centres.

A prison made out of old Dormobiles in a giant wine rack!

Check your medication old chap.

[Grumpmeister]

Hey, its as sensible as a lot of the new laws coming out of the home office these days.

[Darwins Selection]

Hey, its as sensible as a lot of the new laws coming out of the home office these days.

True.

[Misunderstood]

If we could persuade the Queen to move out of Buck House we could start a new city there,  I reckon we could get 38,750 of them comfortably installed.

They might have to upgrade the drains a bit.

They most certainly can't be used as prison accommodation as they are far, far too small.  Regulations forbid it.

Only suitable for confirmed headbangers who choose to work for a living because they'd never be home anyway, being much too busy earning the money to buy it and pay the inevitable Band K Council Tax. (All Mod Cons and a swanky address).  12671 Buckingham Palace Estate.

[Bar Wench]

Well, I could afford it! That's more than I can say about most places.  I really am destined to rent forever aren't I. 

[Misunderstood]

Well, I could afford it! That's more than I can say about most places.  I really am destined to rent forever aren't I. 

Don't worry too much about renting.  It has been stigmatised somewhat in the 'British disease' of needing to own the house as racked up to screaming pitch by the unforgiven and unmissed Margaret Thatcher.

There is a lot to be said for renting, for example, the interest rates don't worry you half as much, if the house starts to subside and fall down, you skip off and find another one to rent, You can upsize or downsize at will, and as long as you pay your rent, these days you are as safe as... er.. Houses?  If you can find a reasonable house at a reasonable rent you'll have a relatively worry-free life.

If you must own, save your pennies now and be ready to catch a repossession of some other unlucky poor soul that lose out in the upcoming housing bust and welcome to the treadmill.  But don't think that there is anything to stop interest rates zooming all the way up to 15 or 16%.  We all said it couldn't happen last time and 5 million lost their homes and as defaulters, can only rent, but are mostly in social housing.

It may be worth mentioning here that the reason Thatcher & Co were so keen to have a nation of home owners is the fact that you become a static target where you can always be found and taxed because all of your 'wealth' is tied into that address and they know where you live and you will respond to, and put up with, any situation that threatens your home.

I wish I had figured all this out thirty years ago......... 

[Snoopy]

Well, I could afford it! That's more than I can say about most places.  I really am destined to rent forever aren't I. 

Don't worry too much about renting.  It has been stigmatised somewhat in the 'British disease' of needing to own the house as racked up to screaming pitch by the unforgiven and unmissed Margaret Thatcher.

There is a lot to be said for renting, for example, the interest rates don't worry you half as much, if the house starts to subside and fall down, you skip off and find another one to rent, You can upsize or downsize at will, and as long as you pay your rent, these days you are as safe as... er.. Houses?  If you can find a reasonable house at a reasonable rent you'll have a relatively worry-free life.

If you must own, save your pennies now and be ready to catch a repossession of some other unlucky poor soul that lose out in the upcoming housing bust and welcome to the treadmill.  But don't think that there is anything to stop interest rates zooming all the way up to 15 or 16%.  We all said it couldn't happen last time and 5 million lost their homes and as defaulters, can only rent, but are mostly in social housing.

It may be worth mentioning here that the reason Thatcher & Co were so keen to have a nation of home owners is the fact that you become a static target where you can always be found and taxed because all of your 'wealth' is tied into that address and they know where you live and you will respond to, and put up with, any situation that threatens your home.

I wish I had figured all this out thirty years ago......... 

I still have a mortgage despite being "retired". I also have all the maintenance costs, 5 yearly external repainting, replacement of anything that falls off (last year it was a chimney stack) that the insurance b@st@rds worm their way out of paying and so it goes on. My eldest Daughter rents a Housing Association house in Milton Keynes, she pays half in rent compared to my mortgage. If she is out of work then the state will pay her rent. No b*gger pays my mortgage. Every three years a team turns up and completely redecorates the outside of her house, giving her a choice of front door colour. Anything needs repairing, inside or out, then the Housing Officer calls, assesses the damage and cause and says "OK We'll pay" unless it is something that either she or her family have broken. New boiler and oil tank are about to be fitted at Castle Snoopy .... gonna cost me £5K ~ Daughter's Central Heating broke down ~ Housing Association replaced it at no cost to her.
Owning property is not all it's cracked up to be. No wonder the French, Germans, Dutch etc think we are mad.

[Bar Wench]

To be fair Mr Wench and I are fairly accepting of our lot these days. Happy to rent until it all falls apart and we can pick up a repo fairly cheaply. We are lucky in that the current place was rather a steal and the landlady doesn't seem to realise!

[Darwins Selection]

  I really am destined to rent forever aren't I. 

Would you care to re-phrase that?