Each year 33,000 nurses leave the NHS and, according to the Royal College of Nursing, 40% are considering leaving London over the next five years due to housing costs. To meet this problem ZEDpods, a company set up to build and install high quality low carbon homes for keyworkers and young people, is announcing a practical solution to benefit NHS Trusts, estates managers and key worker job providers.

ZEDpods homes operate by separating housing provision from land prices, using air rights over car parks. By taking the cost of land out of the equation, ZEDpods can create affordable houses for key workers close to hospitals and public transport. While car parks continue to function, ZEDpods housing can generate long term revenue without selling off NHS Trusts’ valuable real estate.

The concept could also resolve Step Down Care housing shortages. Blocks of ZEDpod could be used for patient accommodation and help solve the 2.3 million (and rising) delayed bed days experienced by the NHS in 2016 and 2017. This readily accessible accommodation might reduce the £173m cost and be more affordable than the ‘Airbnb’-style scheme of ‘host’ patients in a spare room costing £1000 per month.

For patients that are medically fit for discharge with no clinical need to remain in bed, or for those that await assessment of continuing care needs or follow up treatment, the ZEDpods would be a viable solution. As these could be located over existing hospital car parks, ward space would be saved.

To ensure easy access ZEDpod housing could be connected via a bridge from existing buildings with a lift and stair case added. Building time would be just 3 months.

Built to higher standards than conventional homes, ZEDpods are constructed from quality fireproof, durable and robust materials and designed to last as long as traditional builds. As the ZEDpods generate their own solar power, their low energy needs would reduce estate management costs.

The company behind ZEDpods has been set up to build cost effective housing for key worker and first time buyers, taking advantage of the UK’s 200,000 city centre car parking spaces. Their modular construction is fabricated off site and designed to be quickly erected in small or awkward pieces of land not generally considered suitable for housing. This approach enables rapid and easy onsite installation to make effective us of windfall sites. The new space standard ZEDpod was launched this year at Ecobuild 2018.

The unique and innovative solution will be one of the talking points at our Healthcare Estates Development Forum, as they’ll be presenting to industry professionals and NHS Trusts during a live best practice presentation. Learn more about the conference here.