Race for disposable housing hots up

by Michael Gordon



A British builder of modular-housing has joined the race to set up a factory to mass produce affordable disposable houses.

A report in CJ on 3 September, on the Government's intentions to develop plans for short-life housing, has prompted Geoff Hodgson, director of Discuss, to write to the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions with proposals to develop a business along these lines.

After securing a market in Australia, the Oxfordshire-based company now intends to develop its business in the UK.

The Discuss Multi-Layer Composite Polymer Building System is a British invention. In essence it is a system for building housing units quickly and cheaply from a long-life plastic material, adaptable to climatic conditions anywhere in the world. The business has now secured markets in New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea, obtaining a World License for the design five years ago.

Housing can be built to any specification ranging from commercial (office units, accommodation blocks, etc.) through the whole spectrum of developed world residential property, down to Third World low cost utility dwellings.

The process involves no mechanical fixings and most units can be erected without the use of machinery and with the minimum input from skilled labour.