3 minute read - 9th February 2024
Green light for new Boutique Modern factory in Newhaven
Construction company Boutique Modern will start building a new factory in Newhaven, East Sussex this year – doubling its capacity and creating new jobs.
The BCorp modular housing company was given the green light by Lewes District Council to build the factory in Avis Way and plans to move in at the end of this year. The firm specialises in delivering sustainable homes for affordable and social housing schemes in the South East.
Boutique Modern currently employs more than 70 people but has outgrown its current site in nearby Beach Road. The new factory will take its headcount to more than 100 employees. When the new factory opens at the end of 2024, it will enable the business to operate two manufacturing lines, providing greater manufacturing flexibility and increased control over delivery speed to clients. At full capacity, the factory will be capable of producing up to 125 houses or 250 flats per year, whilst maintaining flexibility in its output to manage market peaks and troughs.
Construction company Boutique Modern is to build a new modular housing factory in Newhaven / Picture: Boutique Modern
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Dick Shone, managing director at Boutique Modern, said: “This is an exciting new chapter for Boutique Modern, which will mean more homes and jobs for local people. This will prepare us for the next exciting phase when we open satellite factories in other areas with housing demand. Each new factory will create upwards of 100 new jobs and generate more than £20m for the local economy per year, per facility. It’s our belief that social and affordable housing should be beautifully designed and sustainable and it’s a privilege for us to be able to make a difference.
“The Boutique Modern business model has been developed over more than 10 years to allow us to open satellite factories in locations where there is housing demand. Instead of growing one large factory capable of producing thousands of homes in a single location, the Avis Way Factory will allow us the opportunity to pilot setting up in a new facility with our existing processes and systems before we expand to other sites, thereby enabling the sustainable growth of our business.”
The new factory will create more jobs and double its capacity / Picture: Boutique Modern
The new factory will feature solar panels to provide on-site power generation for lighting and power tools, feeding energy back into the grid when not required on site. It will also include electric vehicle charging points and more than 30 covered cycle spaces for employees to cycle to work.
Councillor Zoe Nicholson, leader of Lewes District Council, added: “I’ve placed a strong focus on community wealth building at the council, so to see a local contractor we work with growing so dynamically is really exciting and welcome news. I recall being at the opening of the homes in Fort Road, Newhaven, the first modular project undertaken by Boutique Modern for Lewes District Council. It was a proud moment seeing new council housing opened that is highly sustainable and of such high quality. There is so much good news coming out of Newhaven and plenty still to come.”
