33 make longlist for 60,000 home competition

A longlist of 33 consortia have been invited to take part in the next stage of the ODPM's £60,000 house competition.

The 33 - a mixture of consortia, partnerships and individual companies from the UK and overseas - 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 ODPM.

Deputy prime minister, John Prescott said he was encouraged by the response from the construction industry to step up and 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 between 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.

He added: "My Design for Manufacture competition is challenging house builders to think creatively and innovatively in order to provide homes that are well designed and affordable at the same time. At a time when construction costs are rising and we need to build more for our money, I want to help more people get onto the housing ladder while still driving up standards in design, construction methods and creating truly sustainable communities."

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. In total 10 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.