Energising New Homes Production

Enevate Homes has witnessed recent high demand for volumetric modular that may signal that the proportion of new homes being delivered in this way is set to increase rapidly.

Enevate Homes, a national and independent provider of modular homes, has seen turnover increase by 118% this year as the need for a sustainable housing solution grows. The company, which works with many housing associations across the UK, is using a 'greener' approach than traditional construction methods and offering a long-term solution to Kent's housing crisis in particular.

Enevate Homes, which was founded in 2016, has seen an influx of housing associations, including Greenwich and Dundee, approach them for factory tours and to learn about modular homes in recent months, signalling a start for plans to rapidly produce more homes to provide low-cost social housing. Shona Robinson, Deputy First Minister for Scotland recently visited the company's 150,000sq ft factory in North Lanarkshire, Wishaw, to discuss the country's plans for modular living, where Enevate Homes factory can produce an average-sized home in just 30 days.

Gary Mayatt, Managing Director, says: "Despite the benefits of modular housing, many providers have been loss-making, with momentum stalling and leading to several companies falling into administration last year. However, the solution to the UK housing crisis appears to be gaining serious momentum since February this year with significant interest from ministers and housing associations."

Certainly, modular housing has a pivotal role to play in solving the UK's housing crisis. UK housebuilders and policymakers need to only look to the likes of Japan and Sweden, where offsite manufacturing has been embraced as a way to diversify the supply of new housing, to understand how beneficial offsite methods can be for a country in delivering new housing levels.

Enevate Homes has witnessed its turnover jump from £3.9million last year to £8.5million this year, an increase of 118%, with 250 homes being ordered in recent months. The company is looking to increase its workforce by 30 to 40 additional employees to cater for the increase of new homes and is working alongside the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Career Transition Partnership to give military veterans the opportunity to retrain and join the rapidly expanding business. To cope with the changes, the company recently appointed a new Finance Director and a new Digital Director to the management team, to help support the company as it continues to expand.

"We have seen a significant uptake in modular homes," adds Gary. "Which is vital, especially if the UK is to tackle some of its biggest issues, such as  an ageing workforce, a mismatch between the supply and demand of new housing and the urgent need to gear up the economy to meet net zero targets by 2050. The UK currently delivers just 10% of new homes using MMC. We expect this to significantly increase in the coming years as we continue to see a pick-up in momentum. In four years' time, the modular industry will be a significant part of how we deliver homes in the UK."

Savills' Impacts Report predicts that the UK is set to see the strongest growth in modular housing in Europe, estimating that the number of homes delivered using MMC will double to 20% by 2030. Make UK Modular has calculated that the industry will be able to build 20,000 modular homes by 2025. This would equate to a fifth of the 100,000 annual shortfalls, following government targets of 300,000 new homes a year by 2025 (according to official figures, about 204,500 were built in the year to March 2022).

For more information visit: www.enevate.co.uk

Images: 01-04. The specification of modular methods for a generation of new homes cannot be underestimated. Courtesy Enevate Homes