If you live in London for any length of time, you will no doubt be familiar with discussions around property, and typically the incredible cost of it.  The city has largely outpaced the rest of the UK housing market to the extent that it is often hard to fathom how anyone can afford to buy a house in the capital.

Walking around the city the contradictions are all too apparent, with gleaming new developments cropping up next to buildings that have, shall we say, seen better days.

That even these tired properties are usually out of the price range of recent graduates proves only to emphasize the size of the challenge.

I’ve written a few times about some cool innovations emerging from the Netherlands, and another is aiming squarely at the disjointed property markets evident in many global cities.

The Dutch architecture company Heijmans have developed their Heijmans ONE concept in a bid to help graduates in Amsterdam who cannot afford to live in the city by providing them with ready made and affordable housing that is being temporarily placed in derelict urban sites.

The structures are two stories high and are equipped with kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, living room and a small outdoor space.  The skeleton of each construction is made from wood, and the structures produce energy themselves, so the hope is that energy costs will be marginal, although it isn’t clear just how they will tap into the utility network of the city.

Each home is made off-site in the Dutch town of Tilburg and Heijmans claim they can be installed in less than a day.  They also suggest that the quality of build is comparable with many new builds cropping up in western cities today.

The units will be rented out for approximately €700 per month and it is hoped that they will breath new life into previously derelict and neglected areas of the city.

The belief is that they can be located on land owned by developers pre-construction, before then being moved on when construction starts.

Similar facilities have been provided in various places in London recently, albeit for local vendors, artistic projects and so on rather than for dwellings.

The company installed their first homes in Amsterdam last December, and they hope that more will follow shortly.

It’s certainly an interesting project.  You can learn a bit more about it via the video below.