Industry in UK is still largely loss-making but there are hopes it might soon deliver significant proportion of new homes
Resembling a giant toymaker’s workshop, 16 identical wooden boxes that stand 2.6 metres tall are lined up in a row in a factory near Leeds.
Each year the factory manufactures hundreds of apartments and houses, with one to three bedrooms, which leave the premises on lorries fully kitted out. The factory is run by one of Britain’s biggest insurance and pension firms, Legal & General, and is one of the main modular housing makers in the country.
Compared with countries such as Japan and Germany, where modular housing is more established, this is a nascent industry in Britain and is still largely loss-making. But the hope is that the building of good-quality homes faster might be part of a long-term solution to Britain’s housing crisis.
Some people may still associate modular homes, made on a factory assembly line like a car, with the prefab homes of the 1950s and 1960s – accommodation that was hastily assembled after the war and built to last just 10 years. But today’s timber frame modular homes are better quality and more energy efficient.
Modular homes are in the top energy performance bracket, so could save an average household up to £800 a year on energy bills, according to the industry group Make UK Modular.
Thomas Chambers, a 38-year-old IT consultant, moved into a £250,000 three-bedroom, end of terrace, modular house at L&G’s Selby site in September. He had known nothing about modular housing but was attracted by the style, location and energy efficiency. His energy bills are about the same as they were for his previous, smaller, 1980s terrace house in Wakefield because his new home retains heat much better and has solar panels.
“I’ve been very happy living here so far. One of the things I like about the property is the high ceilings, which are I think a foot higher than a typical new-build property,” he said.
Rosie Toogood, chief executive of L&G Modular Homes, said: “When people see that’s a modular home it expunges the picture … a prefab in black and white. The more people can see those homes and live in those streets and know that those modular homes are really nice, then momentum will build and there will be more acceptance.”
However, L&G has run into problems at its Bonnington site, in Bristol, where it is building 185 modular homes, a mix of flats and houses, but has faced issues with the foundations, which has led to a 12-month delay. L&G hopes to complete the homes early next year. Some of the 30 customers who have reserved houses reportedly have been offered compensation of up to £4,000.
In Selby, at L&G’s first modular site which has got 100 homes, some modules were left exposed to the elements and developed mould on the internal plasterwork while the company awaited the arrival of roof trusses and tiles, delayed by supply chain problems. A handful of houses and the 16-home apartment block were affected, and are being stripped back completely to remove damp and mould and repaired before being handed over to buyers
However, L&G has run into problems at its Bonnington site, in Bristol, where it is building 185 modular homes, a mix of flats and houses, but has faced issues with the foundations, which has led to a 12-month delay. L&G hopes to complete the homes early next year. Some of the 30 customers who have reserved houses reportedly have been offered compensation of up to £4,000.
In Selby, at L&G’s first modular site which has got 100 homes, some modules were left exposed to the elements and developed mould on the internal plasterwork while the company awaited the arrival of roof trusses and tiles, delayed by supply chain problems. A handful of houses and the 16-home apartment block were affected, and are being stripped back completely to remove damp and mould and repaired before being handed over to buyers.
