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0243772 - Could you live in a space just 30 metres square? "People do in Japan," says the workman unveiling the cramped living quarters installed in the window of Selfridges department store on London's Oxford Street.Along with many cities, London has a lack of affordable housing with the first rung of the property ladder beyond the grasp of many of those vital to the capital. At around £100,000, the Microflat - a double bed, kitchen, bathroom and lounge in one bite-sized home - could be their saviour and help remedy London's shortfall of nurses (4,000) and teachers (800). Far from being a cynical ploy by property developers to peddle shoeboxes to the desperate, the Microflat is the brainchild of two young architects who were themselves priced out of urban housing. "We've been working for eight years," says Stuart Piercy, "and looked around our office of 18 people and saw that no one had been able to afford their own place. Would-be tenants may be means tested to qualify for a Microflat and re-sale will be controlled to prevent the homes becoming pieds-a-terre for the rich. Mr Piercy and his co-designer, Richard Conner, are betting that young people will forego cat-swinging space so as to be within walking distance of work and a short stagger from cocktail bars. "It would be hard to persuade someone moving from the country that they should live in such a small space, but once they'd been in London a while I'm sure they'd come round to the idea." Pic shows Artist impression of a group of Microflats.
21-01-02 PH ANGUS TAYLOR
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![Could you live in a space just 30 metres square? "People do in Japan," says the workman unveiling the cramped living quarters installed in the window of Selfridges department store on London's Oxford Street.Along with many cities, London has a lack of affordable housing with the first rung of the property ladder beyond the grasp of many of those vital to the capital. At around £100,000, the Microflat - a double bed, kitchen, bathroom and lounge in one bite-sized home - could be their saviour and help remedy London's shortfall of nurses (4,000) and teachers (800). Far from being a cynical ploy by property developers to peddle shoeboxes to the desperate, the Microflat is the brainchild of two young architects who were themselves priced out of urban housing. "We've been working for eight years," says Stuart Piercy, "and looked around our office of 18 people and saw that no one had been able to afford their own place. Would-be tenants may be means tested to qualify for a Microflat and re-sale will be controlled to prevent the homes becoming pieds-a-terre for the rich. Mr Piercy and his co-designer, Richard Conner, are betting that young people will forego cat-swinging space so as to be within walking distance of work and a short stagger from cocktail bars. "It would be hard to persuade someone moving from the country that they should live in such a small space, but once they'd been in London a while I'm sure they'd come round to the idea." Pic shows Artist impression of a group of Microflats.<br>21-01-02 PH ANGUS TAYLOR](../images/prevs/0243772.jpg "Could you live in a space just 30 metres square? "People do in Japan,\" says the workman unveiling the cramped living quarters installed in the window of Selfridges department store on London's Oxford Street.Along with many cities, London has a lack of affordable housing with the first rung of the property ladder beyond the grasp of many of those vital to the capital. At around £100,000, the Microflat - a double bed, kitchen, bathroom and lounge in one bite-sized home - could be their saviour and help remedy London's shortfall of nurses (4,000) and teachers (800). Far from being a cynical ploy by property developers to peddle shoeboxes to the desperate, the Microflat is the brainchild of two young architects who were themselves priced out of urban housing. "We've been working for eight years,\" says Stuart Piercy, "and looked around our office of 18 people and saw that no one had been able to afford their own place. Would-be tenants may be means tested to qualify for a Microflat and re-sale will be controlled to prevent the homes becoming pieds-a-terre for the rich. Mr Piercy and his co-designer, Richard Conner, are betting that young people will forego cat-swinging space so as to be within walking distance of work and a short stagger from cocktail bars. "It would be hard to persuade someone moving from the country that they should live in such a small space, but once they'd been in London a while I'm sure they'd come round to the idea.\" Pic shows Artist impression of a group of Microflats.<br>21-01-02 PH ANGUS TAYLOR")