Dutch box clever over housing

The average age of a first-time buyer is 34, according to the Halifax, Britain's biggest mortgage lender. Answers need to be found to an acute housing shortage, with homes in towns and cities too expensive for key workers and young families. One quick and affordable fix could soon arrive from Holland. The brightly-coloured 'Spacebox', a prefabricated studio apartment, can be plonked on almost any flat surface to provide instant accommodation.

Nienke is a student in the Netherlands who has avoided having to share a scummy bathroom and kitchen with a handful of other young people and now proudly inhabits a self-contained purple Spacebox.

More than 400 students in the Netherlands live in stacks of these studio units, which look like piles of giant televisions. The difference between this and other container-like temporary housing is the ultra-modern design. Each 3 x 6.5-metre Spacebox is fronted with a floor-to-ceiling window and equipped with kitchenette and shower room. Boxes are linked by prefabricated steel corridors and stairways and can be erected on minimum foundations - base units stand on frames 70cm off the ground - for around €20,000 (£14,000) each.

'It's very nice to have my own space, with a kitchen and bathroom for myself which I can clean whenever I want. I like the big window and the spaciousness,' says Nienke.

Former boat builders Holland Composites developed the units as isolation boxes for psychiatric patients, but soon realised their potential for relieving the acute shortage of student accommodation.

The Dutch government now runs a scheme to maximise land usage. It encourages local government to issue renewable five-year permits to site temporary buildings on vacant plots, easing housing shortages for groups such as students and refugees.

But Spaceboxes are built to last at least 25 years. The shell of sandwiched fibreglass, fire-retardant foam and polyester resin can be adapted to a variety of uses, from nurseries to sheltered accommodation and army barracks. Holland Composites are also developing larger versions of the Spacebox and starter homes aimed at young families. They are looking at manufacturing these in the UK, taking shipping expenses out of the cost to British buyers.

Possibilities for configuring the boxes as rooms are endless. If you like the idea of self-building but your prowess extends no further than putting up shelves, this could be the solution. All you need is a piece of land.

The Dutch lead the way when it comes to improving the built environment. Widespread underground waste-disposal has taken unsightly rubbish off the streets and 'Green Financing' encourages eco-architectural projects.

In Britain, where many developers refuse to relinquish Victorian ideas of what homes should look like, it would be refreshing to see more imaginative building solutions.