Andrew Shepherd calls his time in sector a ‘rollercoaster four years’
The managing director of modular housebuilder TopHat has announced he will be leaving the company this week.
Andrew Shepherd, posting on the social media site LinkedIn, said that he will be “moving on to a new challenge” after a “rollercoaster near four-years in the world of modular housebuilding”.
Building’s sister title Housing Today understands the departure is related to an ongoing cost-cutting plan at the firm.
A spokesperson for TopHat said: “Despite the growing understanding that volumetric modular is a key part of the solution to the housing crisis, we can’t yet see signs of the market coming back and have needed to take prudent action to ensure the business remains healthy, protected, and ready for the upturn when it comes.
“This has meant some scaling back, and some personnel losses in this period of restructuring.”
In March, TopHat announced it was consulting on plans to make around 70 redundancies.
>>See also: Why are we struggling to make modular work?
The modular developer posted a £20.4m pre-tax loss for the year to 31 October 2022, up 5% on the previous year.
The company, which has yet to be profitable, posted turnover of £10.2m for the same period, a fall on the £12.3m filed for the previous year.
TopHat has previously said it has plans to increase its capacity to 4,500 homes and to open a second factory, a 650,000 sq ft facility in Corby Northampton this year, to complement its existing factory in Derby.
Last autumn, Homes England agreed to lend TopHat £15m to help it ramp up production to more than 4,000 homes a year.
No comments yet