21 CASE STUDY
Off-site, on target: The benefits of factory- built homes
tions, built using precision engineered, factory-controlled methods. The show homes are intended to demonstrate how a common modular platform that is efficient to manufacture can be personalised to meet the Nationally Described Space Standards (NDSS) and the requirements of open sale, with a wide variety of internal layout and external treatment options.
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Originally established as a joint venture (JV) between housebuilder Keepmoat Homes and Elliott, offsite construction specialist ilke Homes utilises modular construction methods to provide customis- able, high quality homes. When setting up the JV, both companies recognised the need for a solution to the increasing demand for new homes, especially against a backdrop of insufficient skilled labour, and with the need to deliver these homes on time and within budget. Incorporated as an independent entity in October 2017, Keepmoat and Elliot have remained as strategic partners, and help out by offering a wealth of experience.
APPROACHING THE PROJECT The two demonstrator units at Gallions Reach offer an example of the company’s affordable rent home and a property for open market sale. The affordable rented house benefits from full open-plan living on the ground floor, and two double bedrooms with en- suites on the first floor. The home is designed to be compliant with the Nationally Described Space Standards and the London Housing SPG.
The home for open market sale has an open-plan kitchen and dining room, in addition to a separate living room on the ground floor, and three bedrooms and a family bathroom on the first floor, with the
ocated in east London, ilke Homes’ Gallions Reach show-homes exhibit examples of its off-site construc-
master bedroom also including an en-suite. Bjorn Conway, CEO of ilke Homes, explained why the site was chosen: “Housing associations will be one of our focus areas and, as the south east is the area most in need of affordable housing, we wanted to make our intentions of address- ing the housing crisis clear by building our first units in the region. “Further, the team at ilke Homes wanted to ensure that the site’s location made it easy for both housing associations and local authorities located in the region to visit and experience the houses.”
Critics of the modular building process often cite difficulty obtaining planning permission as a reason against it, but ilke Homes have reportedly received “positive engagement from planners in local authori- ties across the UK.” Bjorn explains: “Our ability to deliver the external facades and roof styles that work in their local context is key. “We have noticed over the last few years
that offsite construction is becoming increasingly familiar to people at all stages of the planning and development process.” Though Bjorn said the company had come across no specific planning bound- aries, “questions to do with altering the original designs to accommodate higher pitched roofs did crop up.” To mitigate this, this is now something that ilke can provide, building them as separate roof modules in its factory.
OFF-SITE CONSTRUCTION
ilke Homes claims to be one of the UK’s few modular homes businesses set up to operate at scale, and has set itself the target of delivering 2,000 homes per year within the next two years. The company professes a “collaborative” culture. Its product development, design and manufacturing teams are ‘hands on’, working with the assembly teams in the factory to solve issues and deliver a product
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ilke Homes, a new British modular housebuilder, is displaying two show-homes in Gallions Reach, London. CEO Bjorn Conway provides some detail on the properties to Jack Wooler, and explains how offsite can benefit personalisation for homebuyers.
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