The Flat Pack Taken to The Next Level — The BoKlok Concept
When one thinks flat pack, they would rarely go beyond the thought of furniture. This is where the revolutionary BoKlok concept comes in. The fact is it is the brainchild of a lucrative collaboration between two of Sweden’s most recognizable companies. The biggest furnishing retailer and flat pack innovator IKEA, and the construction giant Skanska have joined forces. Together they have taken the essence of the flat pack idea to a whole new level by building homes. A housing concept, that’s what BoKlok is, not a house in flat pack form.
“Boo Clook”, as it is pronounced, provides space-saving, functional and good quality housing at a price that enables as many people as possible to afford a comfortable home. An interesting fact about Ikea is the literal translation of the word BoKlok into English is “Live Smart”.
“Everyone should have the same opportunity to live well”.
Ingvar Kamprad and Melker Schörling, the founding fathers of IKEA and Skanska respectively, believed that there is a way to achieve this utopia. When the two first met at a housing fair in 1996, they noticed that no one dared to build affordable housing and that’s a fact. This was the time to take action. The original idea came from Ingvar. He realised that along with the good they can do, there was a market share to claim too. Just a year later the first four BoKlok developments were a fact. Their vision was to accommodate the needs of ordinary people by offering as much house as possible for as little money as possible.
“Greedy, sure. But not towards our customers”.
The BoKlok concept comes to show that profitability is not the sole purpose of this endeavour. While both businessmen admit that they strive to move their companies forward, they do not forget to pay close attention to society’s moral sense. The profit margins are lowered to a bare minimum so that customers can benefit from the product to the fullest extend. Once again the vision for the concept crystallizes. When they started planning BoKlok the experts at IKEA and Skanska decided to look at some important and interesting facts first, such as:
- Whom are they building for?
- What are their targeted customers able and willing to pay?
- And how do they want to live?
As a result, it was concluded that the monthly cost of living should always be lower than an equivalent flat in the same area they intend to build in.
BoKlok homes in the UK are primarily directed at those with average household incomes of £15,000 to £35,000 per annum. Data is from 2007 before the first BoKlok development in Gateshead was built. The facts is prices may vary from scheme to scheme due to land costs fluctuation. Being able to buy land cheap is of utmost importance for the BoKlok housing developments to be successful. Here is one of the facts and reasons why it hasn’t settled in so well on the UK market yet.
The high price of the land defeats the whole purpose of the project as far as its affordability for the end user is concerned. To fight this, the shared ownership purchase option was implemented.
Another far-reaching Nordic concept that is better suited for the Scandinavian countries than it is for ours. Nevertheless, with careful planning the BoKlok is going to thrive wherever for demand is present.
BoKlok homes have been designed by both British and Scandinavian architects working together and have a contemporary Scandinavian feel using all the benefits of modern construction methods.
“Bringing you the world in a flat pack”.
Although not literally truly a fact, the BoKlok nearly delivers this ambitious goal. IKEA make good use of their flat pack expertise with furniture and employ similar methods regarding their home building enterprise with Skanska. This is achieved through the use of standard, straight-forward designs and large-volume manufacturing. The structures are fragmented into separate modules, all of which are fabricated indoors, and then transported to the building site for assembly by Skanska engineers. About 80% of the house is built indoors while the actual on-site construction takes up to four weeks. The result is cost-effectiveness and high quality control. At the same time sustainability remains crucial and that’s a fact.
“As green as we can be”.
In terms of sustainability the BoKlok concept lies on the following foundations: wood is better than concrete; indoors is better than outdoors; new is better than old; small is better than large; good, but not premium.
The ingenuity of the BoKlok homes is best illustrated by their efficient construction process. They are built from timber and steel in quality-controlled conditions and come with a number of standard features, like extra high ceilings, large windows, IKEA kitchens, laminated wood flooring and huge balconies to upper floor flats. The construction materials and design enable the building of very energy efficient and sustainable housing.
“More for less”.
BoKlok is not like other housing developers, and that makes it special. The concept has been successful because they have managed to deliver what they promised. IKEA and Skanska have scrutinised their costs and cut, cut, cut. Just like when the blue-and-yellow company first implemented the ready-to-assemble furniture that turned the trade on its head half a century ago. Moreover, the fact is there are no compromises on quality or sustainability regulations. This differentiates the BoKlok homes from the once notorious prefab housing units developed in the UK to meet post-war housing demands in the middle of the 20th century. In fact, any comparison between the two is irrelevant.
To date, more than 5,000 BoKlok homes have been developed, built and sold, most of them in municipalities all over Sweden, with a small number in Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany and the United Kingdom. Poland may be next. Of course, the design undergoes slight changes as IKEA and Skanska try to adjust to local preferences.
BoKlok is as close to a flat-pack home as you can get. Developed and built by Skanska, the homes are manufactured in an industrialized way that supports lean construction. Every piece fits. And they are sold at your nearest IKEA store on any given Saturday. The sales process is yet another thing that cuts costs and boosts the idea of fair-mindedness. No brokers and no broker fees. Simply register and then a drawing of order determines who gets to choose flat first. It is fair, it is safe and it is efficient. The flat pack taken to the next level.
