Swan Housing Association is thrilled to announce that the first of their precision engineered modular homes, were yesterday delivered from their offsite factory to their development site in Basildon, Essex.
The factory, which Swan took the keys to in January, will produce 300-400 modular homes per year. 560 of which, will be used in the latest phase of Swan’s regeneration of the Craylands Estate in Basildon, where the first homes were delivered yesterday.
Although when complete the homes will be indistinguishable from traditionally built homes, they will be greener, more sustainable (including cheaper to heat), and come with a 10 year guarantee and 60 year quality assurance. They will also be stylish homes that, in the case of 260 homes for private sale, will be customisable by the buyer – giving them the opportunity to design their own home including choosing the layout, specification, external appearance and even adding additional rooms. Buyers will be able to use our online configurator software to design their new home, from either the comfort of their own home or in the stylish new marketing suite on site, a bit like they might if ordering a new car.
Built using Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), Swan’s in-house developer, NU living, will deliver these high-quality, new homes under their ‘NU build’ brand. CLT is a sustainable construction material which utilises soft wood timber grown in managed forests. It’s tough, long lasting and used widely throughout Europe and the USA to construct homes. CLT is sustainable as the forests are managed so that every tree used is replaced and because when used in construction, it locks away carbon rather than omitting further carbon which happens during traditional construction processes.
Swan is not relying on additional or foreign investment and is funding the factory set-up, the on-going costs and the production of the homes from the budget for their redevelopment of the Craylands estate. Even when allowing for these costs, they believe they can make savings against traditional construction – and deliver completed homes to site 50% quicker than traditional construction methods.
John Synnuck, Swan’s Chief Executive, said: “At Swan we understand the desperate need for quality new homes. We believe that off-site construction methods will enable us to deliver these much needed homes quickly, designed to a high specification and with reduced impact on both local residents and the environment. We are not only excited to be early adopters in the UK of this new way of working, but to see the first of our modules delivered to site, is not only exciting, but a great step towards helping deliver more homes, more quickly!”
Geoff Pearce, Executive Director of Development and Regeneration, said: “I am thrilled to have seen the first of our homes delivered to site today! Swan is truly committed to delivering innovation. Off-site construction is commonly used overseas and the homes are indistinguishable from ones that are built using more traditional methods. We already have our own in-house skilled construction team and so, as both the constructor and developer of the homes, we are perfectly placed to manage the process of building homes off-site efficiently and to the highest standards. We are convinced that this method will enable us to deliver modern high-quality homes that people will want to live in, whilst supporting the economy in our core geographical base, building local and national expertise in manufacturing and supporting the UK modular industry”.
For more information about NU build visit www.nubuild.co.uk
For more information about Swan visit www.swan.org.uk