The answer to London's housing crisis? The £50,000 flatpack home

A flatpack build-your-own home is being showcased as the answer to London’s housing crisis.

The two-storey, two-bedroom house is slotted together with screws and staples — and at £50,000 is a fraction of the average price for a property in the capital.

The WikiHouse has been created by ARUP engineers, the Building Centre and designers Studio 00. The prototype aims to show consumers they can build their own weatherproof house at an affordable cost.

A team of 20 volunteers spent eight days constructing the home, whose SmartPly boards were created digitally using a form of 3D printing.

It opens to the public tomorrow at a site in Store Street, Bloomsbury, as a preliminary to the London Design Festival, launching on Saturday. Designers will be introducing a smaller version to allow people to build an outhouse in their gardens.

Project manager Alastair Parvin said constructing the building from a flatpack would be achievable for the average “Ikea-savvy” person.

He added that the housing crisis was a large part of the concept.

Recent estimates suggest that 42,000 new homes are needed in London each year to meet demand.