We have announced a pioneering partnership with ilke Homes to deliver hundreds of modular homes in the South East and South West, as confidence in offsite manufacturing (OSM) grows.
Following the largest deal yet for Britain’s modular housing sector in 2019, we have struck a two-development deal with ilke Homes which will see the delivery 472 affordable homes.
With more than 219,000 homes across the UK and some of the country’s most significant regeneration projects, our backing of OSM will be welcomed as property chiefs respond to calls to speed up delivery, improve quality and to develop construction skills further.
As part of the agreement and subject to planning permissions, we will purchase two sites: a 307-home development in Burgess Hill, Sussex; and a 165-home development in Exmouth Junction, Exeter.
Both developments will provide a range of apartments and two, three and four-bedroom affordable homes, which will be managed by Places for People and available for affordable rent or for sale through shared ownership.
Delivering more affordable homes in Exeter and Sussex is vital, with housing prices rising 7% and 14% respectively in the last year alone. Average asking prices in Exeter currently stand at £300,521, while prices in Sussex have reached £421,075.
“By adopting modern methods of construction (MMC), our partnership with a proven modular business such as ilke Homes allows us to create more affordable, well-designed mixed-tenure communities across the country - speeding up delivery, cutting costs and giving our customers unrivalled choice and quality. The partnership is about pioneering a new way of delivering homes through making socially-responsible decisions and working with best-in-class partners. “Our investment in modular housing across our developments and the proposed acquisition and delivery of Exmouth Junction and Burgess Hill forms an integral part of Places for People’s ambitious growth strategy to deliver high quality affordable homes which meet people’s needs.”
Strategic partnerships are key to delivering more affordable homes
The news of the deal, which comes two years after ilke Homes entered a strategic partnership with Places for People, follows last month’s announcement that the modular housing pioneer has been selected by FTSE 100 firm Boots UK to deliver the UK’s largest low-rise modular housing development – a 622-home scheme in Beeston, Nottingham. The deal marked the first time the retailer had released any part of its Nottingham HQ site holdings for housing.
As part of sweeping reforms to the planning system, the Government is encouraging the redevelopment of brownfield sites to bring new investment into areas and increase housing delivery.
Places for People is a strategic partner with Homes England. In 2018, we were one of the first organisations to be awarded a grant from Homes England and will deliver around 6,000 affordable homes over the next 10 years through this partnership.
Homes England has also been championing modular housing as a solution to speeding up the delivery of affordable housing across the UK. Last year, the Government’s national housing agency announced that housing associations looking to sign deals under the new £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will have to commit to using modern methods of construction (MMC) to deliver at least a quarter of their pipelines.
“We are extremely pleased to have secured these sizeable opportunities which demonstrate our continued investment and expansion across the South-East and South-West regions. These transactions mark a significant achievement for our modular business, with Burgess Hill being the largest for our business in both GDV and volume for a forward-sold turn-key delivery package on a single site. Exmouth Junction is similarly the largest site to date secured and packaged in the SW region. We are proud to be delivering these homes in partnership with Places for People, making a considerable and accelerated contribution to the availability of affordable homes nationwide.”
