“Ikea could solve Australia’s housing shortage”
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There’s a smart solution to Australia’s spiralling housing costs, according to Adele Horin, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald: Ikea.
Working with another Swedish giant, Skanska, the world’s favourite blue and yellow furniture firm has been producing flat-pack homes in Scandinavia for years. Soon a project will begin in the north east of the UK.
These flat-pack houses, known as BoKlok (pronounced boo-klook), are cleverly designed and energy-efficient and, judging from the pictures, look like the kind of items featured in an Ikea catalogue.
They have the hallmarks of Swedish design – modern, timber-framed, open plan, wooden floors, tall windows on three sides, higher-than-average ceilings, and fitted Ikea kitchens.
They’re cheap, too and could be just what Australia needs. Alas, Ikea has no plans to start erecting its homes Down Under, but Horin urges readers to lobby the firm:
…it might be worth calling Ikea’s head office to urge it to fast-track its BoKlok plans.
August 16th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
BoKlok would only be introduced in Australia if IKEA can find a way to limit its expenses through transportation costs. One solution might be to employ swedish in Australia to maufacture the BoKlok housing, or outsource the BoKlok hoousing to an Australian manufacturer?
September 3rd, 2007 at 5:09 pm
I definitely agree. Ikea has opportunities in Australia that they can’t even imagine !