First L&G offsite housing units ready by new year

L&G has confirmed that the first units from its massive offsite housing factory will be rolling off the production line before the new year.

Speaking today at a housing conference covering London’s housing problem, James Lidgate, director of housing at Legal & General Capital, said the firm was working with clients and running a testing phase of the factory.

He said: “We’re running the pilot phase, we’re working out how we can drive more efficiency and we think there’s still areas we can improve.

“Before the end of the year we expect the first units to come off the production line,” he added.

The insurance and investment company originally announced in February its intention to further move into the housing sector with the launch of the new £55m modular housing factory near Leeds, expected to be the largest in Europe.

News of the offsite factory will come as a further boost to the housing sector as new government housing statistics released today showed that 189,000 homes were added to the housing stock in England in the last financial year, up 11% on 2014-2015. Of these, 163,940 were new build homes, up 6%.

While the figures demonstrate that the government’s plan to deliver one million homes in this parliament is on track, some believe there is still work to do.

Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation Master Builders, said: “Today’s figures showing that 189,000 additional homes were created in 2015/2016 is positive progress towards solving the housing crisis. However, the total created still falls below the number needed each year to deliver the government’s stated aim of building one million new homes by 2020.

“The current figures also show a strong reliance on the conversion of existing buildings to residential use, which is a trend that can’t be sustained indefinitely. Recent government policies to boost house building are helping, but there is still plenty of room for more radical solutions to meet the one million target.”

Government plans to build up to 100,000 homes using offsite building is one of the initiatives that has been mooted, with reports last month revealing that a white paper was due that would include measures encouraging banks to lend to offsite home builders.

Speaking at today’s conference, Marc Vlessing, chief executive of niche London developer Pocket Living, said he was against the government launching its own offsite factories.

“When it comes to modular, please please do not let the GLA or government start building factories,” he said.

“Whenever the government starts building factories, something goes wrong. The answer in the power that modular brings is not in the sophistication of the factory, but in the management skills and the time management skills of bringing all the components of making a modular unit and getting it delivered on time.

“If you build modular factories too far away from London it just won’t work. It’s all about trusted time management, not about just building factories.”