Consultant Arup is showcasing a unique smart house made from a recycled shipping container at the London Design festival this week. Built from two specially adapted shipping containers, the new prototype challenges land-use thinking; presenting a model for how under utilised brownfield sites could be used to locate prefabricated, adaptable homes. The cost of this new home is just 10% of the average London property.

Automatic planning permission in principle on brownfield sites – to bring forward more land to build new homes quicker, while protecting the green belt is a key plank of the Government’s Housing and Planning Bill. Also included is a proposal for dispute resolution for “stuck” section 106 agreement deals for social housing.

AECOM is starting work on a masterplan for a new 15,000 home garden city at Ebbsfleet in Kent, which has the HS1 rail station as its focus. The scheme was identified in the 2014 Budget, with government making available up to £200m of infrastructure funding to start the development. AECOM will lead a team that includes architect Maccreanor Lavington, commercial property and real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield and landscape specialist Spacehub.