Custom-build has been a mainstay of housing markets for decades in countries such as Japan, Australia, Belgium and Germany, where around 60 per cent of new homes constructed annually are now built by the people who will live in them.
The UK appetite for custom-build is huge with a ready market of over six million people looking to get involved in a custom-build project, and over two-thirds of people reluctant to buy an off-the-peg volume-built house. However, it is estimated that just 10,000 self and custom-built homes were built in 2015. This panel discussion will debate the reasons why we fail to deliver bespoke homes and what the built environment industry can do to encourage growth in custom-build.
Speakers include:
Chair: Michael Holmes, chair of the National Custom & Self Build Association
Alice Grahame, freelance journalist and communications advisor, The Guardian and resident of a Walter Segal house
Alex Ely, director of Mae Architects
Gus Zogolovitch, CEO and founder of Inhabit Homes
Chris Brown, chief executive of Igloo Regeneration
Tom Coward, director of AOC Architecture
A partnership between The Building Centre and Museum of Architecture.
