Policy and Research • Ealing Small Sites Strategy

To help Ealing Council tackle its profound homelessness crisis, RCKa developed a strategy for delivering affordable homes on small sites using MMC.

Facing the crippling costs of placing families and vulnerable residents in temporary accommodation, Ealing Council recognised the potential of its existing sites to help meet the borough’s housing needs. RCKa was commissioned to put together a strategy for addressing the housing challenge through the use of modern methods of construction.

The research comprised three strands. Firstly, we undertook a review of Ealing’s landholdings to understand its distribution across the borough. As part of this exercise, we visited some of the council’s existing temporary accommodation facilities, and vacant plots with the potential for new homes.

Then, based on our in-depth knowledge of public procurement, and learning from our experience with Camden’s hostel programme, our research looked into the potential for offsite construction to accelerate the process of building both temporary accommodation and affordable homes. We carefully reviewed every public sector MMC framework and assembled a database of the UK’s modular manufacturers and suppliers. Using a combination of our small sites expertise and knowledge of offsite construction, this led to a pipeline strategy which set out guidelines for Ealing to help decide on how best to bring forward new housing. This included recommendations on which frameworks were best suited for the commissioning of modular providers.

Finally, the work was assembled into a document, with a bespoke identity, created by our in-house graphic designer. This included case studies and the summary of interviews we held with public sector clients from across London.

This work has now been expanded with the help of the Mayor of London’s Small Sites Small Builders Round 2 funding to enable the development of a pattern book of “west London” house types which can be delivered through a variety of means.

£4,200 monthly cost of a hotel room for an unhoused family.

389 Ealing bed and breakfasts in use as temporary accommodation.

Project Team

Russell Curtis
Andrea Villate
Sam Letchford
Emily Temperton
Yara Taha
Eden Malik

Project list