Modular housing pioneer ilke Homes has secured a 12.4-acre site in Hastings, East Sussex for the development of up to 140 factory-built homes.
Subject to planning consent, the development will deliver a mix of apartments and houses, ranging in sizes from one to four bedrooms – all of which will be made available for either affordable rent or shared ownership.
The announcement marks the company’s continued expansion in the South East region, where it is already committed to delivering in excess of 800 homes across a number of sites and follows news that ilke Homes has raised £60 million in a recent fundraise from investors across the public and private sectors – including Homes England, Asda owners TDR Capital, Sun Capital and The Guinness Partnership.
Following a competitive tender process, Hastings Borough Council chose ilke Homes to develop the site due to the company’s ability to demonstrate best value, accelerated delivery and high levels of sustainability.
The site, located on Harrow Lane, will be the fourteenth ilke homes has secured to deliver as part of its turnkey offering – by which it acquires land, gains planning permission, manufactures the homes and develops the site. By taking charge of the full construction programme, ilke Homes is able to provide councils and clients with certainty that sites will be delivered on time and to budget.
Thanks to supply and demand mismatches, generous tax breaks from the Government and changing buyer trends as a result of Covid-19, house prices in Hastings have skyrocketed over the last year, rising by a staggering 17 percent. Average house prices in the region currently stand at £281,927, representing a 21 percent jump on the 2018 peak of £238,226.
Price rises, combined with revised price caps for the Government’s Help to Buy equity scheme, mean that thousands of families and would-be buyers remain locked out of home ownership.
Precision-engineering techniques mean that ilke Homes will be able to deliver the 140 affordable homes in half the time of traditional methods, thanks to most of the construction stage taking place offsite. By manufacturing offsite, the homes delivered will be of the highest quality, as ilke Homes is able to benchmark standards at numerous stages of the build cycle.
Once complete, the homes and complementing open spaces will be managed by a national registered provider of affordable homes.
A Reserved Matters application will be submitted to the local council in November, with ilke Homes aiming to commence on site by autumn 2022. Practical completion of the first homes will follow from spring 2023 onwards.
Tom Heathcote, executive director of development at ilke Homes, said: “ilke Homes is increasingly becoming a partner of choice for local authorities looking to scale up the delivery of energy-efficient, affordable housing, and this deal is testament to that. Our accredited modular methods of delivery will ensure that these homes help Hastings Borough Council, who in 2019 declared a climate emergency, meet carbon reduction targets while simultaneously delivering well in excess of the 40 percent policy compliant provision of affordable housing required by the outline planning permission.
“We look forward to working with both local planning officials and other stakeholders to finalise plans for what will be a truly well-designed community that will be providing much-needed affordable housing for the area.”
Meanwhile, a new development of 131 factory-built affordable homes – one of the largest of its kind in Nottinghamshire – is now underway following planning permission being granted by Gedling Borough Council.
ilke Homes is manufacturing the homes offsite for Jigsaw Homes, who will eventually own and operate the scheme.
The latest milestone follows news that in October 2020, ilke Homes was chosen by Nottinghamshire County Council to regenerate the nine-acre brownfield site following a competitive tender process.
The Homes England-backed scheme will deliver 45 two-bedroom homes, 73 three-bedroom homes and 13 four-bedroom homes – all of which will made available for either shared ownership or affordable rent.
The new development, is one of the largest modular schemes to be funded through the Affordable Homes Programme by the Government’s housing agency,
It is Jigsaw’s first foray into delivering factory-built houses as part of its sustainability strategy and plans to reach net zero carbon by 2050. A number of the homes could also be fitted with a mix of photovoltaic (PV) panels and Air Source Heat Pumps to maximise energy efficiency.
