The UK’s newest modular housebuilder has officially opened its first manufacturing site in the North East of England.

The 20,000 sq ft CoreHaus factory in County Durham opened its doors on 30 July, marking the start of production for the first steel-framed modular homes. This milestone also coincided with the announcement of significant initial contracts for the social enterprise company, based at Jade Business Park, Murton, near Seaham.

Mark Farmer said: “I am really excited to be here today. I get to open a lot of factories but this one feels very different to me.

“CoreHaus is an important step towards modernising construction. The product is very different to many modular homes; it’s a hybrid modular home with its pod and panel approach.”

A five-year plan will see CoreHaus produce around 1,000 modular homes per year, which will result in over 300 employees working across the business. The houses will be built using modern methods of construction (MMC), meaning the result will be high-quality homes, built faster, with engineered precision and expected lower energy bills.

Since moving into its first UK manufacturing facility in County Durham, CoreHaus has been recruiting while also securing new commercial contracts. The order book already stands at around £6 million.

CoreHaus Managing Director Scott Bibby explained: “The housing market remains incredibly buoyant with demand continuing to outstrip supply. There’s some extremely positive collaboration going on in the industry which will increase market share and strengthen the reputation of MMC.

“We know the housing sector wants something that’s both affordable and incorporates high-quality design within a modular frame. We are already in discussions with several regional and national housing associations interested in working with our product.

“Our light gauge steel-frame system ensures that CoreHaus can be used in both urban and rural locations with elevation treatments tailored to suit each setting, providing almost unlimited design potential. The standardised modular core means the solution can be configured for homes of almost any size.”

CoreHaus is a joint-venture company between Carlton & Co Group, the parent company behind North East based Homes by Carlton, and national social enterprise Fusion21, specialists in public procurement for the built environment.

The modular housing sector recently received a boost by national housing agency Homes England, which is accelerating the delivery of local authority housing schemes, encouraging greater use of MMC.

Housing associations looking to sign lucrative ‘strategic partnership’ deals with Homes England to build large numbers of affordable homes will have to commit to using modern methods of construction to build out at least 25% of their pipeline.

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