Construction on Berkeley Homes’ modular factory in Kent is set to start this month.
The housebuilder announced in December last year that it had secured a 160,000 sq ft site in Gravesham for the facility, allowing it to make the transition towards offsite construction.
Berkeley appointed contractor Readie Construction to build the factory in May this year. Completion of the shell and core of the building is expected in March next year, while production is due to start by spring 2020.
The news came as Berkeley Modular, Berkeley Group’s modular construction arm, agreed a new partnership with information management firm CoBuilder to boost the efficiency of offsite construction.
CoBuilder will work with Berkeley Modular to set product data and documentation requirements for the materials, components and equipment to be incorporated into Berkeley’s volumetric modular solution.
The data will be collected from manufacturers and digitised through standard-based product data templates.
Berkeley will then use the data to help it build a range of volumetric modular housing products.
Berkely Modular director Graham Cleland said: "We want to be able to specify products that ensure the comfort of those living in the homes we will manufacture, and also meet our own sustainability and build-quality requirements.
"Collecting data in a digital format from our supply chain will make it easy for us to control and continuously improve the quality and longevity of the homes we build."
