A joint reserved matters application made by ilke Homes and Places for
People has been approved by Mid Sussex Council.
The 19.3-acre site is ilke Homes’ largest to date in the South East as the
company continues to expand into the regions.
Announcement comes as House of Lords’ Built Environment Committee backs MMC
as a means of speeding up delivery of affordable housing.
Places for People and ilke Homes have been given the green light to deliver
307 new homes at Burgess Hill, in the district of Mid Sussex.
The two companies entered a strategic partnership in 2019, which remains the
largest deal to date for Britain’s modular housing sector, and are working
together to set a new standard for development on the 19.3-acre site in the
district.
The development, which will be named Abbeville Park, includes a range of
apartments and a mix of two, three and four-bedroom properties. The houses will
be constructed using modern methods of construction, and all the homes built
will provide much-needed affordable homes for rent and for sale through Shared
Ownership.
219 of the 307 homes will be manufactured offsite at ilke Homes’ factory,
where the company harnesses artificial intelligence, robotics and digital
design to create homes that are high-quality and energy-efficient, helping to
keep residents’ bills down at a time when household bills are increasing.
Alongside the modular construction, three traditionally-built wheelchair
accessible homes will be constructed, together with a further 86 apartments.
Thanks to precision-engineering techniques, the partnership – which starts
on site in summer 2022 – expects the development to be completed by 2025; this
is half the time it would take if built using traditional methods. ilke Homes
will be developing the site as part of its full turnkey offering. This means
ilke Homes is responsible for identifying and securing the land, gaining
planning permissions, manufacturing the homes and developing the site.
An increasing number of local authorities and housing associations are
turning to modern methods of construction (MMC) – which include modular housing
– as a means of speeding up the delivery of much-needed housing – as evidenced
in a recent report from the House of Lords’ Built Environment Committee.
Places for People’s Group Development Director, Adrian Bohr, said: “Places
for People is delighted to continue its partnership with ilke Homes. The
development will deliver houses built using traditional construction methods
and modular houses through modern methods of construction.
“The delivery of this new neighbourhood at Burgess Hill forms an integral part
of Places for People’s strategy to deliver high quality affordable homes which
provide choice and meet people’s needs. Working alongside partners such as ilke
Homes allows us to combine expertise and supports our aim of creating
well-designed, sustainable mixed-tenure communities.”
Places for People has a Strategic Partnership with Homes England. In 2018, the company
was one of the first organisations to be awarded a grant from the Government’s
national housing agency and will deliver circa 6,000 affordable homes over the
next 10 years through this partnership.
Homes England has also been championing modular housing as a solution to
speeding up the delivery of affordable housing across the UK. In 2020, the
Government’s national housing agency announced that housing associations
looking to sign deals under the new £11.5 billion Affordable Housing Programme
will have to commit to using modern methods of construction (.MMC) to deliver
at least a quarter of their pipelines.
Adrian continued: “Abbeville Park will be developed as part of our strategic
partnership with Homes England. This key partnership plays a pivotal role in
the delivery of affordable housing, enabling us to further increase the
provision of affordable homes across mixed-tenure neighbourhoods. It is a
testament of how well such collaborations work and how we can swiftly increase
the creation of places in which everyone can live.”
Tom Heathcote, Executive Director of Development at ilke Homes, said: “This
latest milestone demonstrates the strength of our long-standing relationship
with Places for People. The Burgess Hill scheme is the latest of our sites to
achieve planning consent ready for a site start in the early Summer. The size
of the opportunity marks a significant achievement for our modular housing
offering, and points to yet another proof of concept moment for the business.
“The new development will deliver a well deigned, sustainable, mix-tenure
community that will provide residents with precision built quality homes, open
space and strong links to the town centre. We are very excited to deliver this
brownfield regeneration scheme in partnership with Places for People and look
forward to collaborating on future projects.”
