Although BoKlok may be an unfamiliar brand name in the UK, its joint owners Skanska and IKEA are familiar faces to most of us. As Graeme Culliton, BoKlok Managing Director and Country Manager told us, things are about to change.
BoKlok has huge experience in developing and manufacturing homes in the Nordic region and to date has developed around 12,000 homes in Sweden, Finland and Norway. The homebuilding joint venture sees homes built primarily from timber, using a smart, industrialised factory process. The homes are completed offsite in a safe and dry precision environment enabling high-quality and predictable costs.
It is now aiming to set new customer satisfaction standards in the UK market. What drew it to the UK and what can Swedish expertise deliver to the UK housing market? “Simply put the need for low cost home ownership in the UK and the opportunity to make a difference,” says Graeme. “We have been delivering this model in the Nordics for 20 years. Our experience in delivering modular homes is derived from the fact we own our own factory but also manufacture homes with manufacturing partners. The need for modern methods of construction (MMC) and the support from central and local government was also key to knowing this was the right time for this.”
How does Skanska and IKEA work together to create this housing model and the wide and potentially endless customer interior requirements? “IKEA understand how people live, great design and industrialisation,” says Graeme. “Skanska understand construction, logistics and development. Together a powerful combination. Both organisations have high ambitions and achievements in sustainability. Together all this drives the way we think about our customer, the homes we design but also delivering a low cost home. All our homes have an IKEA kitchen as standard, but customers can also work on their own interior design with IKEA, if they choose. This is part of our sales process.”
The system is a volumetric timber system involved with most of the timber sourced from Sweden and Finland. BoKlok has worked closely with NHBC and BOPAS (Building Offsite Property Assurance Scheme) to ensure compliance with UK regulations and requirements. A panellised system was never considered. “It’s what we know and we know it works,” says Graeme.
