ilke Homes has added a further 225 factory-built affordable homes in Essex to its portfolio after securing a 14.5-acre site in Southend-on-Sea
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.
Delivering more affordable housing in Southend is vital. According to Rightmove, the average asking price for a home in the region stands at £321,225.
In the last year alone, house prices in the region have skyrocketed by 11%.
An increasing number of housing associations are choosing to deliver schemes using offsite manufacturing, where homes are precision-engineered along production lines.
Delivering a sustainable and design led scheme
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.
The news of ilke Homes’ continued expansion follows last week’s announcement that Stephen Stone, former chief executive at FTSE250 housebuilder Crest Nicholson, has joined the company’s board to help forge more partnerships with institutional investors, developers, councils and housing associations.
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.”
Subject to the granting of planning permission, ilke Homes anticipate being on site in the summer of 2022.
