Swan Housing Association has taken the keys to a 75,000 sq ft industrial facility in the recently completed Prologis Park Basildon, in order to build modular homes.
Swan will begin advertising the jobs available at the factory within the next few weeks, and construction of the homes is expected to start early in the summer. To emphasise the improved rate of delivery this form of construction can bring, homes are expected to be delivered on site this Autumn.
At full capacity, the modular factory will be able to deliver over 300 homes a year, and generate up to 40 jobs.
Using cross-laminated timber, Swan will deliver high-quality new homes under their newly created “NU build” brand. Initially this will be for Beechwood in Basildon as part of Swan’s £100m regeneration of the former 1960s Craylands Estate, which it is delivering in partnership with Basildon Borough Council and the Homes and Communities Agency.
John Synnuck, Swan’s chief executive, said: “We believe that off-site construction methods will enable us to deliver these homes quickly, designed to a high specification and with reduced impact on both local residents and the environment. We are excited to be early adopters in the UK of this new way of working.”
Geoff Pearce, executive director, development and regeneration, said: “Off-site construction is commonly used overseas and the homes are indistinguishable from ones built using more traditional methods. We already have our own in-house skilled construction team and so, as both the constructor and developer of the homes, we are perfectly placed to manage the process of building homes off-site efficiently and to the highest standards.”
“We are convinced that this method will enable us to deliver modern high-quality homes that people will want to live in, whilst supporting the economy in our core geographical base.”
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