Firms keen to build £60,000 house

Davis Langdon, Mace, Oxford firm Martin Associates, GDG Management and Rider Hunt Management Services have all reached the initial shortlist for the competition.

The 33 teams will now be invited to submit firm proposals in the second stage of the competition. Successful bidders have until July to submit their Stage Two proposals.

The Design for Manufacture Competition is being run by English Partnerships, the government’s regeneration agency, on behalf of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott said he was encouraged by the response from the industry to take on the challenge to produce the £60,000 home. He said: “The level of interest in this competition has been staggering. We received over 50 expressions of interest in the first stage, involving more than 100 companies.”

Prescott added that originally it was predicted that 15-25 firms would move to this next stage, but since the quality of the entries was so high that number has easily been surpassed.

The deputy prime minister also announced three further sites that will be used for the competition – School Road, Hastings; Horn’s Cross, Stone; and Rowan High School, Merton. Ten sites have now been chosen to be used by the eventual competition winners.

The successful bidders will be chosen early next year and it is expected that work will begin on the first sites in spring 2006.