Healthy Homes for key workers
Skyroom supports the Healthy Homes Act, brought forward by Lord Nigel Crisp and the TCPA.
In 2018, we spotted the dilemma faced by key workers living and working in London — that it has become prohibitively expensive to live in the city — and the implications of this dilemma for our public services.
Even before the pandemic, we were at a tipping point: more than half of London’s key workers could not afford to live in the city. Then COVID-19 arrived and brought with it long-overdue recognition of the critical role key workers have always played in supporting society and sustaining our cities.
Skyroom started with a mission: to improve the lives of key workers by delivering affordable, sustainable, beautiful homes near where they work. It is one response to UN Sustainable Development Goal 11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
Enter the Healthy Homes Act: a positive, not punitive, take on designing homes around the health needs of people and place. Its principles include routes to stop repeat urban design crimes, and they determine conditions that must not be compromised going forwards.
Skyroom is the first urban development and technology companies to be a signatory of the Healthy Homes Act. Here, we pair an illustrative sample of the eleven principles and with some of Skyroom’s to demonstrate how we design healthy homes which improve the quality of life of key workers, and the quality of the environment in the city:
“All new homes… must secure radical reductions in carbon emissions in line with the provisions of the Climate Change Act 2008.”
By 2030, we aim to have provided London’s key workers with 10,000 Skyroom homes in the airspace above existing buildings. These homes will collectively save over 15 million tonnes in CO2-equivalent emissions over their lifetime, or the same effect as taking all of London’s vehicles off the road for a year.
One calculation behind this the embodied energy conserved in existing buildings by extending their life through upgrade works. The new homes make considerable material and labour-related embodied carbon savings compared to the traditional housebuilding process, as Skyroom homes are precision-manufactured offsite.
“All new homes… should be built within places that prioritise and provide access to sustainable transport and walkable services, including green infrastructure and play space.”
By delivering new homes in the airspace above existing buildings, they are ‘plugged in’ to existing urban neighbourhoods, bringing schools, surgeries, nurseries and grocery shops closer to home. This encourages active, low-carbon, travel (for example, by foot or by bike).
A Skyroom project in Southwark makes private outdoor spaces for all homes, as well as a communal rooftop garden for new and existing residents. Even the ‘passive’ use of green space, like enjoying an amazing view, improves mental wellbeing.
“All new homes …must demonstrate how they will be resilient to a changing climate over their full life time”
To reduce the operational energy needs of both new and existing homes, renewable energy sources are installed on the new rooftop. Rooftop gardens welcome birds, pollinating wildlife and absorb pollution. They also absorb noise pollution and purify the air by absorbing C02, screening toxic particulates and producing oxygen.
Even on a relatively small scale, this green infrastructure can reduce the urban heat island effect and reduce stormwater run-off. A Skyroom development in Southwark will create fifteen new homes and two large, planted roof terraces, one for residents, one for non-human inhabitants.
In 2021, Skyroom launched the Key Worker Homes Fund to accelerate the delivery of sustainable, affordable, beautiful homes in partnership with London Housing Associations and Local Authorities. The £100 million resource offers pro-bono technical consulting and development finance for projects of 12 to 200 airspace homes in London. fund.skyroom.london
All the Healthy Homes Principles:
