New houses are being built in a Factory

An exciting new “house factory” is being trialled in Leeds by insurance giant Legal and General. Legal and General have recently been involved in a number of building projects from new homes developments to community regeneration, including the redevelopment of the local Arndale Shopping Centre, in Eastbourne, East Sussex.

Building work 24/7 no matter what the weather

The house factory is set up to build modular homes, similar to the N-house concept we wrote about last year. The first Legal and General modular home prototype was launched in 2017. The homes follow a particular layout and will be identical to each other, making it easy for the factory to create a production line strategy that is expected to be able to create 3,000 modular homes over the course of the year and the factory will employ around 500 people.

The benefit of building the homes in the factory is that there are no environmental restrictions to when and how work can take place. For starters, the house builds won’t be affected by bad weather conditions as they’ll all be built indoors in the warm and dry factory. This could also save on loss of materials and makes the build site safer for the construction workers. The building work can also take place around the clock because there is no risk of disturbing the neighbours through the night.

Multi-skilled modular home builders

Legal and General claim that the workers creating the modular home are going to benefit from being multi-skilled, because they can be involved in the home build from start to finish, including window fitting, interior finishing, plumbing and electrics; opposed to a standard site where different trades would specialise in each area. The homes will already be fitted with some furnishings, including white goods.

Is there a place for modular homes in East Sussex?

Where the Legal and General modular homes will be situated is yet to be revealed. Whether Legal and General will purchase their own land and create new build to rent developments is unknown. Or perhaps they’ll work with local authorities.

When it comes to new homes in East Sussex, there is real diversity in the market. From grand buildings of Brighton and Hove that are converted to luxury apartments, to the completely new modern developments of the marina and Hove Park, and the refurbished town buildings in Lewes, and new boutique developments creating their own cul-de-sac, such as Pepper Close in Wivelsfield. None of these has featured modular homes yet, but there are certainly some mixed-used developments in the pipeline in the local area that might be able to take advantage of the modular homes innovation.

To find out more about new properties and land availability in East Sussex, contact our Land and New Homes team at our Brighton office on 01273 627412