Market Reaction

The feedback from the end users of the Chatham development has been very positive and all LA’s/Institutions that have been shown around have been blown away by the Housing Model.

Lord Kerslake and Natalie Elphicke from the Housing & Finance Institute recently visited the development and commented on the excellent quality and design.

They spoke with the purchaser/occupier of the properties and were invited into their homes, and below is a comment from one such resident:

“we had been looking at moving for a while but could not find anything with good circulation space and energy efficiency and, since moving in, cannot believe how warm the house feels, particularly compared to our last new build home bought 7 years ago”

The Chatham development has been very helpful to demonstrate to the market what modular housing is all about. General consensus being of surprise and in most cases say “why does the industry not embrace this method of building”.

Yesterday we invited the leader of Bracknell Borough Council and the CEO of IESE, a social enterprise, whom represent circa 60 local authorities and they are now considering setting up a framework to offer LA’s factory built housing.

We will be offering housing designed to the London Housing Design Guide and a standard volumetric design for National use – externals would be finished to suit each locale, all to meet the desperate demand for housing and economies of scale.

Offsite/factory production provides a much needed resolution to the demand for high quality, cost-driven and time sensitive housing and offers an opportunity for local employ and supply chain to become an integral part of the manufacturing process, utilising local hubs, therefore creating a business and housing model that is re-generative, sustains the local economy and enforces social inclusion.

Factory produced housing can and does accommodate the latest technologies where budget allows, and where specific requirements are to be met, eg special needs, care in the community provision.

The exemplar build quality provides high levels of insulationwhich hugely reduces heating bills and tackles ‘fuel poverty’ head on.

This type of build technology should be embraced and encouraged as it is a major player in providing answers to the housing shortage problem, including meeting budgetary requirements, including life cycle costing.

 

Written by
Nazir Asmal, CEO