Student designs concept to tackle housing crisis

An architecture graduate has developed a housing concept aimed at tackling the high cost of living and reducing the number of young people leaving the island.

Oliver Coupe, who recently completed a degree at the Welsh School of Architecture, presented the proposal to housing and planning representatives during a work placement at Guernsey architecture firm, The Drawing Room.

His design named 'Les Jonnes' - Guernsey French for the young - would provide affordable accommodation centred around communal living and shared social spaces.

Coupe said the model, inspired by UK student accommodation, could offer a "more affordable and attractive" option for young islanders struggling to access housing.

Coupe said: "High housing costs are one of the reasons young people are moving away from Guernsey.

"The Drawing Room team tasked me with exploring options to address this issue, and we agreed a communal housing model incorporating shared living spaces, inspired by the UK student housing model, could be an affordable and attractive solution."

Young people in Guernsey have stated reasons for leaving the island include loneliness as well as the cost of living.

During his research Coupe surveyed 24 young people and found more than half wanted to leave Guernsey because of housing costs, while almost 70% said they would stay or return if housing was more affordable.

He found around 60% would consider communal living if it were cheaper than current market options.

The proposed development would comprise two three-storey buildings containing 70 homes, arranged around shared outdoor space designed to encourage community interaction.

Inside, residents would have their own studio flat, with clusters of four to six homes connected to communal dining and living areas.

According to the design, the shared-living model would increase the number of homes by 25% compared with a traditional apartment scheme on the same site.

Rachel Rogers, director of The Drawing Room, said while Les Jonnes was aimed at young people, the concept could also be adapted to provide low-cost housing for other groups.

Committee for Housing president and member of the Development and Planning Authority, Deputy Steve Williams, said the design fits with conversations he has had with the The Guernsey Institute's GradRoutes young people forum.

"This is about ways of offering hope for young people that there could be accommodation to suit their needs and finances in the future," he said.

"The Housing Committee will explore the concept further and see if we can make it a reality on a scale to suit the demand, and of course this type of housing could help single people of all ages."

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