First Base to set up modular housing factory

Residential developer First Base has become the latest company to announce plans to set up its own modular housing factory.

The developer is teaming up with Aecom to deliver 3,000 new homes at Silvertown in east London. It is expected the new factory will become operational later this year producing predominantly two-bedroom homes.

The Silvertown Partnership is a £3.5bn scheme run by First Base, and aims to create homes and commercial property on a 62-acre site in east London. Others involved in the scheme are Chelsfield Properties and Macquarie Capital.

A total of 850 homes are due to be on site by the end of 2019 to coincide with the opening of Crossrail, with more to follow in later phases of the project.

The facility is aiming to have capacity to build 500 homes a year.

As part of the recent government Housing White Paper, more developers and contractors will be encouraged to use modular housing and modern methods of construction.  

Phil Wade, The Silvertown Partnership, said: “We are excited to be partnering with AECOM to deliver 3,000 homes for Londoners via cutting edge construction methods.

“As the government stated in its recent Housing White Paper, innovation is essential to meet housing demand in the UK, and this is a bold step that will help us deliver these much-needed new homes in significantly less time.”

Speaking to CM at the start of the year, Phil Wade, boss of First Base, hinted the firm would opt for greater use of offsite construction on the development.

He said: “For the first phase we’re looking at a number of innovative techniques, including modular construction with cross-laminated timber, or pre-cast concrete. We want to cut down the wastage and interface on site. We are also considering building homes with bathrooms and kitchens already fitted.”