Spacehus welcomes Government's plans to boost small housebuilders

Public Sector Wed, Mar 23, 2016 9:19 AM

Spacehus, part of the award-winning Space Group, welcomes the Government announcement to release public land for development by smaller housing developers, as Spacehus units are ideal for smaller housing schemes, offering a manufacturing and construction solution which delivers on cost, quality and timescale.  

Spacehus is a scalable affordable housing solution responding to key challenge facing the housing industry, being cost – the cost of building for smaller developers; the cost of lending for mortgage companies and the cost of buying for the end consumer. A key principle behind Spacehus is its focus on Generation Y and the reduction in running costs it delivers. The availability of public land with planning permission already in place empowers the smaller housing developer to make a difference in the industry and lead the way in solving the national housing shortage.

Spacehus managing Director, Rob Charlton comments: “The housing crisis is not a new problem. The construction industry has seen it coming for years but bigger developers are afraid to do things differently. Smaller housing developers are more flexible and are often more willing to try new approaches. By empowering them in this way, the government is enabling them to spearhead change in the industry, which we can only welcome!”

Using a state of the art Building Information Modelling (BIM) in out design, Spacehus can deliver a well-designed, high quality, pre-engineered three bedroom house for just £80,000 with typical running costs of around £10 per week.

By using the BIM system, the Spacehus is assembled rather than built, rendering the need for skilled traditional trades obsolete. This also provides a solution to the national shortage of skilled bricklayers and wet trades, which has increased construction costs throughout the industry over the years. This different approach to construction means that houses can be built within days, rather than weeks – at an affordable price for all phases of the supply chain.  

The government aims to deliver 200,000 starter homes - to be offered to first-time buyers under 40 at a minimum 20% discount price - by 2020.  Rob Charlton continues: “Spacehus is a scalable affordable housing solution with a de-skilled construction process, which solves so many problems for housing in this country. It’s genuinely the only way to deliver a 21st century housing product for Generation Y in large numbers.”