Terrapin to make Barratt-style prefabs for social landlords

The uk's largest housebuilder Barratt Homes has launched a £13m joint venture with off-site manufacturer Terrapin to produce prefab homes for registered social landlords.

Midsummer Housing Association and William Sutton Group are in talks to build homes using the system.

The four-year venture, Advance Housing, has produced 100 homes since June 2003 and will produce 500 in the next 12 months. They will be closed-panel, steel-framed units for final assembly on site.

After that it expects to produce 2000 homes a year to nine standard designs. They will look similar to typical Barratt properties.

Half the homes will be sold to Barratt for use in section 106 planning gain agreements – deals in which a developer provides social housing in return for planning permission.

The rest will be marketed directly to RSLs.

The homes have Housing Corporation accreditation as standard house plans and are rated "very good" under the EcoHomes system.

The homes were unveiled to invited associations and suppliers at a visit to a factory in Daventry, Northamptonshire, last Friday.

Savings can be made from the shorter building time – it can be as little as four weeks

Harold Walker, Advance Housing

Harold Walker, head of Advance and regional chair of Barratt Central, said the homes would cost slightly more than traditionally built homes at first, but he expected the costs to come down quickly as production volumes increased.

He added that savings could be made from the shorter building time needed to complete the homes on site – as little as four weeks, compared to 25 weeks for an average property.

Barratt has sold 23 Advance homes in Milton Keynes on the Housing Corporation's orders, to prove they are attractive to private buyers. All 23 were sold at standard price, said Walker.

Adrian Miller, regional development manager at William Sutton Group, said the RSL was looking at using the system because it is committed to using modern construction methods in more than half of its developments.

Maggie Sherlock, development director at Midsummer Housing Association, said she was in talks to buy some of the homes. "We're waiting for some costings but we like the product," she said.

Midsummer has a target of using modern construction methods in 80% of its schemes.