Across the country, thousands of families are stuck in unsuitable temporary accommodation, while councils face rising costs and very few good options. Wates Residential has created A way back home: rapid response housing for communities in need, a new playbook setting out how modular homes can provide safe, modern and family friendly places to live while permanent homes are delivered.
The LDN Collective has been closely involved in this work as a strategic partner and convenor, helping to shape an approach that can be used by local authorities, housing providers and their delivery partners anywhere in the country. Our members Strata Consultancy, Conisbee and RCKa have worked with Wates to design and deliver a full scale demonstrator home, which has been showcased at the New Homes in New Ways exhibition and summit at the Building Centre.
This prototype home shows what temporary accommodation can become. Families have private bedrooms, a real kitchen, a family bathroom and light, comfortable living spaces, with energy efficient heating and power already built in. The homes are factory produced, installed in a matter of weeks and designed to be relocated to new sites as housing needs change, giving councils genuine flexibility.
The first live project is now under way in the London Borough of Havering, where planning approval has been granted for eighteen modular homes at Waterloo and Queen Street in Romford. These homes will provide a step change in the quality of temporary accommodation for families currently living in hostels and hotels, and form part of a wider regeneration partnership between Havering Council and Wates Residential that will deliver thousands of new homes across the borough.
For clients, A way back home offers more than a single pilot. It is a repeatable model that brings together architects, engineers, manufacturers, planners, lawyers and advisors behind one shared approach. The LDN Collective helps public and private partners to use the playbook in their own context, from understanding local needs and identifying sites, through concept and detailed design, planning and community engagement, to delivery of high quality interim homes on the ground.
Ultimately, the ambition is simple. Families who have already been through crisis should not spend years in poor quality temporary settings while they wait for a permanent home. Modular homes created through A way back home provide a safer, warmer and more dignified stepping stone, close to schools, jobs and support networks, and can move with communities as regeneration phases progress.
If you are a local authority, registered provider, combined authority or delivery partner with a duty to house homeless families, and land or sites that could host transitional homes, we would be very happy to talk. Please get in touch to explore how we can bring the A way back home approach to your area.
