Boris Johnson Launches Scheme to Help Londoners Build Homes
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has set up a register for Londoners to sign up to if they wish to custom build a home. It asks them to list their preferred boroughs.
Boris Johnson Launches Scheme to Help Londoners Build Homes
The Build Your Own London Home Register launches this week and will initially provide City Hall with a database of the level of demand for self-builds.
Johnson then hopes to match interested self-builders with councils that have brownfield sites, as well as developers and firms that they can work with.
Deputy Mayor Richard Blakeway says: “People do not necessarily want to do it all themselves from scratch. But they might want to take a shell and customise it.”1
In London, finding a suitable site can be the toughest part of building your own home, as the cost of land can be the most expensive part of the project.
Additionally, amateurs are put off by the complexity of building a house.
The types of plots that become available are often tricky infill sites that can be challenging for self-builders.
However, by the end of this year, Johnson hopes that enough people will have registered with the scheme, so that City Hall can map levels of demand around London.
Next year, serious discussions will be held with landowners and developers to match the demand from aspiring homebuilders.
Plans for one of London’s first custom build projects are underway at Custom House, East London. Planning permission has been granted for nine new homes and it is hoped that East Thames housing association, partnered with Newham Council, will start work next year on a council-owned site that is currently used as garages.
The register can be found here: http://localselfbuildregister.co.uk/buildyourownlondonhome/