Leading modular house builder ilke Homes plans to deliver 140 energy-efficient homes on their recently purchased seven-acre site in Milton Keynes, as part of a wide 4,330-home masterplan
Pending Reserved Matters planning approval from Milton Keynes City Council, ilke Homes will deliver one to four-bed houses and apartments, mostly manufactured at the company’s offsite manufacturing facility in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, at the site. No less than 30% of the energy-efficient homes will be made available for affordable tenures.
The site is part of a 4,330-home masterplan by L&Q Estates, which is expected to create hundreds of jobs, 4,300 energy-efficient homes, a secondary school, three primary schools and a health facility, indoor sports and other leisure facilities, and play areas.
What are the benefits of offsite construction?
ilke Homes are already in negotiations with several organisations to acquire and fund their modular homes at Whitehouse.
ilke Homes are the first modular house builder to deliver factory-built energy-efficient homes at Whitehouse, and an increasing number of developers and investors are opting to use offsite construction in their manufacturing schemes.
Offsite constructed homes allow for precision-engineered along production lines, due to:
- Quality: The precision-engineering techniques used in the factory enabled each home to be built to an exceptional standard.
- Sustainability: Investors are under increasing pressure to reduce the environmental impact of their homes. All of ilke’s energy-efficient homes hit the highest EPC ratings, an ‘A’, meaning investors will not have to pay for expensive retrofitting programmes.
- Speed: Short and certain construction programmes allow revenue streams to be accessed quickly and reinvested into new housing.
Assembling certain components onsite, using traditional techniques, requires the assembly of loose components onsite. This process is reactive to the requirements of each room, which can lead to further complexities and waste.
New build projects, such as this, can benefit from the efficiency and sustainability of offsite construction. Tailor-made systems can be delivered directly onto the site, reducing waste created from offcuts and minimising emissions from transport.
The energy-efficient homes will be in place by 2024
ilke Homes will submit a Reserved Matters planning application to Milton Keynes Council in April and expect to begin work on-site by the end of 2023. The first energy-efficient homes are expected to be installed in the Summer of 2024.
“ilke Homes continues to expand across the South East, with today’s announcement marking our first site acquisition in Buckinghamshire. Our teams are excited to work alongside L&Q Estates and some of the UK’s most well-known house builders as part of this fantastic consortium, which promises to deliver a well-designed community with placemaking at its heart. Since launching in 2020, our land-led, turnkey offering has seen exponential growth, demonstrating the strength of our vertically integrated approach to development,” said Tom Heathcote, executive director of development at ilke Homes.
“L&Q Estates and Milton Keynes City Council have been involved in the development of this site for over 20 years, facilitating the delivery of much-needed homes, social infrastructure, and facilities for the community in Whitehouse. Modular housing is a really exciting advancement in building energy-efficient properties at a much faster rate. It will be fantastic to see these high-quality properties lowered into place for families to move into and start creating their dream homes. These will be the first modular energy-efficient homes in Whitehouse, and we look forward to the first families moving into them next year,” concluded Adrian Clack, Managing Director of L&Q Estates.
