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ilke Homes secures new site for 225 modular home project
Modular housing company ilke Homes has secured a 14.5-acre site in Southend-on-Sea, where the company plans to deliver up to 225 affordable, environmentally-friendly homes.
Subject to planning consent, all of the houses being delivered will be manufactured offsite at ilke Homes’ 250,000 sq. ft factory in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. By manufacturing offsite, ilke Homes is able to cut delivery times by up to half compared to traditional methods, and therefore offers clients more certainty over construction programmes – as the end-to-end progress is less susceptible to on site delays such as adverse weather conditions.
A detailed planning application is on target to be submitted in late March. The application will set out the company’s plans to deliver a mix of one and two-bedroom apartments, and two, three and four-bedroom homes on the site. Subject to the granting of planning permission, Ilke Homes anticipate being on site in the summer of 2022.
ilke Homes has secured a site to provide up to 225 factory-built houses in Essex / Picture: like Homes
The site is the second that ilke Homes has secured in Essex in as many months, as it looks to quickly grow its portfolio in the South East and ramp up the delivery of well-designed, affordable housing in the region. In January, the company announced it had secured a 15-acre site in Stanford-le-Hope, Thurrock to deliver 153 family homes.
ilke Homes is said to already be in conversation with a top 10 national housing association as a potential buyer for all the homes to be provided. The company has struck a number of sector-defining deals with housing associations over the last few years, including a £100m deal with Places for People and a £23m deal with Stonewater.
Homes England, the Government’s national housing agency, has been championing modular housing as a solution to speeding up the delivery of affordable housing across the UK. Last year, the Government’s national housing agency announced that housing associations looking to sign deals under the new £11.5bn Affordable Housing Programme will have to commit to using modern methods of construction (MMC) to deliver at least a quarter of their pipelines.
Tom Heathcote, executive director of development at ilke Homes, said: “This is fantastic news for our south east regional team, and a fantastic opportunity for ilke Homes to work with Southend on Sea Borough Council and its wider stakeholders in order to deliver a sustainable and design led scheme which will provide much needed affordable homes for the local community.”