BoKlok, a company owned by Ikea and construction firm Skanska, is looking to expand in the UK and has reportedly signed up with Worthing Council to build 162 factory-built homes in the seaside town, according to The Guardian. The joint venture aims to help more people afford to buy a home, with properties in Worthing typically costing almost 12 times local salaries. Homes produced by BoKlok take into account the cost of living and are priced based on what owners can afford. Its website says: “A single parent can afford to buy and live in a newly built two-bedroom BoKlok apartment.”
BoKlok has already built 11,000 homes across Europe, mainly in Scandinavia.
Its move into the UK market comes after plans for a development in Tyneside was put on hold when the financial crisis hit.
Councillors have voted in favour of the collaboration.
Councillor Kevin Jenkins, responsible at the council for Worthing’s regeneration, said: “In this current market it’s extremely tough for local people who are in full-time work to get on the housing market.
“This proposal could change that, giving these hard-working individuals a genuine chance to buy their own home without having to move out of the town.”
The plan would see Worthing Council own 30 percent of the homes, which would be used for social housing.
The remaining 70 percent would go to BoKlok.
Building could start next September and the “first homes dispatched, delivered and erected” in January 2021.
A spokesman for BoKlok said the firm had no plans to confirm at this stage, but said the company was “now exploring the UK market for potential sites for BoKlok developments, initially in the south and west of the country”.
On its website, BoKlok says: ”We are expanding in the UK and are looking for land.
“Do you have a vacant plot that could accommodate a new sustainable neighbourhood?”
It continues: “It is about a high-quality off-site manufacturing process that allows us to assemble them quickly in a safe and sustainable environment, which we know that both employees and customers appreciate.”