Blog post -
The Daily Telegraph curious about BoKlok
On Monday, Luke Mintz, a journalist at The Daily Telegraph, visited BoKlok in Sweden. BoKlok is the sustainable, quality and low-cost home provider jointly owned by Skanska and IKEA. The reason for the visit is the great interest in Boklok's brand and concept since the news that BoKlok expands to England came out in the beginning of the summer.
The interest for BoKlok has been big since the news that BoKlok will expand its operations to England became official. The English housing market faces similar challenges as the Swedish housing market in form of a lack of quality housing that people with ordinary incomes can afford. During the visit to Sweden and BoKlok's headquarters in Malmö, journalist Luke Mintz visited BoKlok Glasörten, a project in Bunkeflostrand, in the outskirts of Malmö. BoKlok Glasörten was completed in 2016 and the residents moved in during the winter of 2016/2017. Here, Luke Mintz was given the opportunity to talk to one of BoKlok's customers, Ellen McKnight, about what it’s really like to live in a BoKlok home.
- BoKlok is the love child between Skanska and IKEA. It really is the best parts of the two companies, combined, said Ellen McKnight during the conversation.
When asked what she likes best in her apartment, she replied:
- Well, apart from my kitchen window view of the ocean and the Öresund bridge to Denmark; the soundproofing! The walls are so thick, I never hear my neighbours. And that means I never disturb them either, when I play my piano. It’s perfect!
After the visit to BoKlok Glasörten, the route went on to BoKlok Synålen, also in Bunkeflostrand. Construction is still ongoing here and there is full activity in completing the 212 apartments for Malmö's public housing company, MKB. Here Luke Mintz was given an insight into what BoKlok's construction process looks like and how quickly a house can be assembled on site, since it is all prefabricated in a factory indoors. The on-site production manager, Gojart Zejnullahu, told the interested journalist how 16 modules per day are assembled into finished apartments.
In addition to visiting the various projects and meeting one of BoKlok's customers, Luke Mintz also interviewed BoKlok's CEO Jonas Spangenberg.
- I got many interesting questions! Above all, he was curious about what our houses will look like in England and what the approach will be. We have a way in Sweden to sell our homes, which we think is the fairest since it excludes bidding. Now we must think about how we can pass it on to England to suit the English market. It is clear, however, that we will always build good homes of good quality for people with ordinary incomes, no matter where we build. That’s a thing we won’t change! says Jonas Spangenberg.
