£100m modular housing deal struck by Places for People and Ilke Homes

Places for People and Ilke Homes have announced a £100m joint venture to deliver 750 modular homes across the UK.

The property-management firm will purchase 750 units from Ilke Homes, including 500 for sites Ilke Homes already owns and 250 for new sites for which they will partner to develop a mixed tenure of housing.

The homes will be built by Ilke Homes using volumetric modular construction, which the JV claims will improve man-hour productivity by 90 per cent and lead to a reduction in onsite waste and snagging.

Ilke Homes executive chairman Dave Sheridan said offsite manufacturing "could create an 'Uber moment' for construction, speeding up delivery, cutting cost, and giving our customers unrivalled choice and quality".

Places for People chief executive David Cowans said the project was "just the start for offsite manufacturing".

Cast Consultancy chief executive Mark Farmer, the author of the Modernise or Die report on, commented: "Game-changing disruption in the UK modular homes sector is now starting to gather pace. This revolution is long overdue and will enable us to deliver more homes to a better quality."

Housing minster Kit Malthouse said the announcement "supports our urgent mission to deliver more, better, faster home construction to ensure a new generation can realise the dream of home ownership".

Sites for the modular homes have been identified, but have not been publicly confirmed.