The offsite industry has been shaken once again with the collapse of another major player in the housebuilding sector. After the demise of L&G Modular Homes in May, leading modular housebuilder ilke Homes entered administration in July with over 1,000 employees set to be made redundant.
The Flaxby-based company had been looking to further fundraise or seek new buyers with ilke Homes reportedly offering potential buyers the company for £1, to enable it to complete its 4,200-home pipeline and retain its workforce. This did not materialise.
Clare Kennedy, Joint Administrator and a Partner and Managing Director at AlixPartners, said: "This is an incredibly difficult time for all associated with ilke Homes, and in particular its employees, who have worked tirelessly alongside management over recent months to find a resolution.
"With significant incremental investment the business returned to growth following the Covid pandemic, but then faced the challenges of unprecedented inflation and a lack of land supply linked to planning processes. As a result, despite a strong product and pipeline, the business has not been able to secure the further investment needed to take it forward.
"Regrettably, this means the immediate closure of the manufacturing facility at Flaxby in North Yorkshire and all site activities will cease. As a result of this difficult decision the significant majority of the companies' 1,150 staff will be made redundant with a small number being retained to assist the administrators in winding up the companies' affairs.
"Unfortunately, the market and economic headwinds have proven too strong to overcome… our focus now is on helping all stakeholders, employees, suppliers and customers alike, to find the best possible outcome in this undoubtedly difficult time."
It was only in December 2022 that ilke Homes announced it had raised a record-breaking £100million from new and existing shareholders following successive years of 'triple-digit' growth, with the round being led by funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group LLC a leading global investment manager with approximately $46billion of assets under management. As regular readers will know ilke Homes and its projects have been covered at length since its inception in many issues of Offsite Magazine. The future of the 250,000sq ft factory, its state-of-the art equipment and assets remains to be seen.
