The idea of the Microflat is basically a small, very well-packaged bedsit. The architects have ideas of prefabricating as much as possible, of stacking the flat up above shops and supermarkets. The aim is to keep the final cost of the Microflat within £100,000. Before everyone else in the country has apoplexy, I should point out that they are talking about London here. A central London studio apartment for £100,000 is thought to be good value.

The architects quote statistics showing that in Camden, say, you would have to shell out an average £195,000 for a one-bed flat. Basic maths shows that young professionals, let alone “key workers” such as nurses, police and suchlike, can’t possibly raise a mortgage of that level on their starting salaries of less than £24,000. Of course, you can get cheaper bedsits on the outskirts. But Piercy Conner are seeking the Holy Grail: central location, and (relatively) low cost.

For all the froth surrounding the project, and for all the millions of pounds’ worth of publicity it is getting a young firm of architects who haven’t yet built much at all, this is not a cynical exercise. Piercy and Conner have a good pedigree, having previously worked for master architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, he of the Eden Project. They really want to make the Microflats happen, and there has been a bit of unofficial help from Grimshaw’s practice getting the prototype designed and built for Selfridges. The problem of housing in the capital - and other property hotspots - is expressed concisely by architect Stuart Piercy: