ABSTRACT
In 2021, despite the Coronavirus pandemic, London continued to experience a serious housing crisis with excessive demand for homes and prices rising at around 4% per annum. Yet many Inner London housing estates, owned by local authorities, often contain under-used parcels of land. These include air-rights above single-storey garages, left-over corners of undefined public space, and buildings whose function has long since ceased or are underused, such as first floor playgrounds above former car parks. My research examines the potential for small unused sites on public housing estates to become locations for community self-build housing projects, with the objective of building such a project and testing its viability in practice. The research develops new techniques to explore sites in the selected case-study area of Hoxton, recording site data digitally in a coherent manner which is scalable and parametric. The project seeks to pioneer a participatory approach where the local authority facilitates the self-builder in developing a home, potentially providing a structural frame with connected services to those in housing need with the desire to self-build. This essay captures a stage of the project in which sites have been identified, meetings held with local politicians and public engagements events undertaken.
