Prefab Housing Customized By Residents Sprouts Up in the U.K.

In Manchester, England, prefab modular construction has been employed in an inventive new housing development where incoming residents got to customize floor plans for individual units. For example, whether the unit would have a more open-plan or partitioned layout, whether the living room would be upstairs or downstairs, plus the number of bedrooms were all chosen by the residents. As Dezeen reports, the project, spearheaded by UK developer Urban Splash and Liverpool firm ShedKM, aims to "combine the cost-benefit of modular construction with the flexibility of architect-designed properties."

Each unit is first prefabricated as a wood-frame shell in a factory before getting transported on site to be finished just as residents requested. So far, 26 of the planned 43 units have been installed. According to Urban Splash chairman Tom Bloxham, the homes have a lower cost per square fee than that of city-center flats—though given U.K.'s soaring home prices, it's unclear just how affordable these units actually are. What say you Curbed readers? Would you be interested in customizable prefab housing?

• ShedKM and Urban Splash let residents design layouts for modular Manchester homes [Dezeen]
• London's Dashing New $46K Prefabs for Homeless Youth [Curbed]