Thorpe Thewles - Corehaus

Project Details

Project - Thorpe Thewles

Sector - Residential

Technology - Hybrid

Company - Corehaus

Project Overview

Our innovative flexible designs & modern construction methods deliver fast build times without compromising on quality, making it economically viable for developers, offering good value & reducing environmental impacts Most MMC suppliers offer either a panelised or full volumetric modular system. We’ve developed a hybrid of both. Our manufacturing principles are based on a standardised light gauge steel ‘core’ which houses a pre-finished WC, bathroom, kitchen, staircase & heating system produced in a controlled environment. 80% of commonly problematic construction processes are taken care of offsite.

Once delivered to site the cores are wrapped in insulated light gauge steel frame walls to form the main rooms & roof providing a weather tight structure in 5 days meaning internal works can be completed onsite whilst external works are completed providing up to 50% reduction in the onsite programme. Setting up a Factory & recruiting a workforce during a pandemic was challenging. We weren’t eligible for various Frameworks because we didn’t have the relevant accreditations. We constructed a show home in the Factory yard to evidence our processes & gain accreditations such as ISO 9001, 14001, 45001 & CHAS.

NHBC accepts & BOPAS are still underway. It takes time & significant resource from concept to orders - In 2019, we took the design & component parts & successfully piloted the concept onsite with Homes by Carlton alongside their traditionally built homes. The first home made in the Factory was the Show home which we erected in the yard in July 2021. Our first order saw 4 homes delivered to Thorpe Paddocks in November 2021.

MMC is still unfamiliar. There’s a lack of understanding (mindset, reluctance to change) from all (suppliers to customers). There remains scepticism of the benefits & concern that it is more expensive than a conventional build. Quality, product performance overtime & the benefits of the reduced cost of living need to be taken into account. Whilst our price doesn’t match traditional build yet, it is competitive in the MMC market. CoreHaus provides a solution to some of the typical challenges of MMC by offering flexibility of design & layout, elevation treatments tailored to suit, adaptability & ability to access difficult sites.

Whilst it is still early days, we have demonstrated that CoreHaus can deliver MMC differently, getting the best of both worlds in terms of standardisation & efficiency but not compromising on quality & choice. We have improved the time & speed of build from CoreHaus One by 20%. The homes for Thorpe Paddocks took 4 weeks to manufacture  with a 4 week site install per home