Bermudian entrepreneur Dwayne Trott has a solution to the island’s overcrowding — build on the water.

The owner of Clean Energy Solutions, is working on a project that could create new sea homes, freeing up space on land.

Mr Trott, has already submitted a marine development proposal to the Department of Planning, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Marine and Ports.

His team is also consulting the Attorney‑General’s Chambers because floating homes do not fit easily into existing planning law.

“There is probably no legislation about actually putting a city on the seabed in Bermuda,” Mr Trott said. “It is considered the King’s Bottom or crown land. It is a process because it doesn’t fall under planning.”

As previously reported, he also hopes to improve the local housing stock by building sustainable land-based housing at Southside, St David’s.

For his ocean programme, he is looking at locations such as Castle Harbour, Harrington Sound or the Great Sound.

The aim is to tackle high construction costs and housing demand without sacrificing Bermuda’s character.

Mr Trott accepted that there might be planning objections from people who suddenly have their seaview blocked by floating homes.

“We just have to take the feedback,” Mr Trott said. “It would be no different than building a home on land.”

To carry out the project he has enlisted the help of international expertise including architect Katrine Juul, of the firm Henning Larsen in Denmark; Koen Olthuis, chief executive and principal architect at Waterstudio in the Netherlands; Henrik Sorenson, of Henrik-Innovation in Denmark; and Grant Romundt, chief executive and cofounder for Ocean Builders.

The group is working to form a registered company in Bermuda called L32.

Mr Romundt lives in a floating home off Panama and has built them in places such as the Maldives and Sri Lanka.

He chose Panama for his own home because it is outside the Atlantic hurricane zone.

When the weather gets bad he moves the structure to the other side of the island.

The structure, which looks a bit like the Jetson’s home in the old cartoon, is engineered to handle 8ft to 10ft waves comfortably, but designs vary drastically.

“This roof collects rain water that we convert that into drinkable water and water for showers and toilets,” he said. “Usually, in a ten‑minute heavy downpour, we can collect enough rain for me to live in the home for about three weeks.”

Sewage, black water and grey water passes through a series of membranes, with each clarifying it more and more until it gets to the point where it is around 98 per cent clean.

One possible arrangement would be to build several homes on a large concrete floating platform. They could conceivably go up several floors, an option known as a floating high-rise.

Engineer Mr Sorenson said: “Today we see that everywhere in the world, there is a need for space. Floating foundations and buildings make sense.”

Asked about potential damage to seagrass beds and coral reefs, Mr Olthuis stressed that environmental performance is now central to their approach.

“You don’t place them just anywhere,” Mr Olthuis said. “First you research, and we always work with local ecologists to see where they could fit.”

He said if there is potential to damage the environment then they don’t put the floating structures there.

“Ten years ago, you would go somewhere and try to have no damage,” Mr Olthuis said. “Now, we want to actually improve the ecology.”

His firm, Waterstudio, uses floating green islands and artificial mangroves in some locations.

On the topic of structural resilience, Mr Sorenson said their platforms are designed for extreme weather.

“We build structures that can resist these kind of extreme weather conditions, up to category four hurricanes,” he said, adding that new technologies can “lift up buildings out of the water during hurricanes and bring it back in the water when the hurricane is gone.”

Mr Trott said the marine project could cost about $43 million for about 100 floating homes, but would still undercut prevailing construction costs in Bermuda.

“The cost per square foot comes to below what the current ranges are for Bermuda, with $700 to $1,200 per square foot,” Mr Romundt said. “We would be in the $400 to $500 per square foot range.”

The broader strategy for sustainability is being led by architect Ms Juul. She emphasised that the team does not intend to impose a Scandinavian style on the project.

“It is super important that this is something that feels and looks Bermudian,” she said.