Keepmoat and Elliott to unveil new modular housing

Keepmoat is to unveil what it calls the “next generation of UK-sourced, off-site built homes” at an event in Gallions Reach in East London tomorrow (Wednesday, 10 May).

Representatives from housing associations, local authorities and build-to-rent landlords will see modular-built housing developed by Ilke Homes, a joint venture between Keepmoat and modular construction specialist Elliott.

Homes are constructed at Ilkes Homes’ assembly plant in Carnaby, East Yorkshire, then sent complete and ready to fit to sites where they are installed at a rate of 10 a day, “allowing a street of homes to be installed in a week and saving as much as six months on a 50-home development”, according to Keepmoat. 

The venture, which is being backed by £8m of funding from TDR Capital, the private equity firm which owns both Keepmoat and Elliott, said it expected to open a second UK assembly plant “within a year”. However location details were not being revealed in advance of the presentation in East London.

Each assembly plant can build more than 500 homes per year, customised to client specifications, Keepmoat said. Ilke Homes’ system is designed for two to three storey terraced or semi-detached houses and flats. The firm said its homes had running costs a third cheaper than traditionally-built brand new homes and a third of the running costs for the average UK home.

Keepmoat chief executive Dave Sheridan said his firm’s experience of partnership housing “should be obvious in an adaptable product that meets landlord and developer requirements for all tenures, as well as offering the resident an attractive, high performing home.

“Some of the gains are less obvious. Show us a difficult regeneration site and we will show you how it can be unlocked. Limited access and community resistance can both be overcome more easily with modular homes. We are offering additional homes and not simply a better construction method.”

Lee Newman, Elliott’s chief executive officer, said the key to the success of any modular solution was to have it fully designed for manufacture: “What Ilke Homes does so well is in combining that basic standardisation with sufficient flexibility to meet landlord and market requirements, as well as the ability to blend in with local architecture across the UK.”