PLANS to bring the "prefab" building back to provide affordable housing in York have now achieved virtual reality.

Internet surfers can now follow the progress of the city's new Sixth Avenue

Apartments development on the world wide web (www.yorkon.com/sixthavenue).

City of York Council, Yorkshire Housing and Portakabin subsidiary Yorkon have teamed up to provide 24 "modular" design homes in the £2 million development - the first of its kind in the country outside London.

The innovative scheme offers several advantages over traditional brick-built

homes, not least speed - the core units and fittings come straight from

the factory, halving average completion times - and significantly improving the

quality of the building and site safety.

Interest in the scheme from those living near the site, as well as from

outside the city, has been high, and now anyone with access to the Internet - including visitors to York's libraries - can get a regular webcam update on how the project is progressing.

Updated: 11:42 Saturday, August 25, 2001