Leading modular house builder ilke Homes has purchased a seven-acre site in Milton Keynes where the company plans to deliver up to 140 highly energy-efficient homes for the local community.
Subject to Reserved Matters planning approval from Milton Keynes City Council, ilke Homes plans to deliver a mix of houses and apartments ranging from one to four bedrooms – the majority of which will be manufactured offsite at the company’s 250,000 sq ft factory in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. Not less than 30 per cent of the homes are expected to be made available for affordable tenures.
The site will form part of the 4,330-home Whitehouse masterplan, which is being delivered by L&Q Estates, one of the UK’s largest strategic land developers, and their development partner Milton Keynes City Council.
L&Q Estates is the master planner behind the development at Whitehouse which is expected to create hundreds of jobs, 4,300 homes, a secondary school, three primary schools, a health facility, indoor sports and other leisure facilities, and play areas.
ilke Homes is already in conversation with a number of organisations with appetite to acquire and forward fund ilke’s exemplar modular homes at Whitehouse.
ilke Homes is the first modular house builder to be delivering factory-built homes at Whitehouse in a huge sign of confidence in the company. An increasing number of developers and investors are choosing to deliver their schemes using offsite manufacturing, where homes are precision-engineered along production lines, due to:
· Quality: The precision-engineering techniques employed in the factory mean that the finish of every home is to an exceptional standard.
· Sustainability: Investors are under increasing pressure to reduce the environmental impact and carbon footprint of the homes they manage. All of ilke’s homes achieve the highest EPC ratings, an 'A’, meaning investors will not have to undergo costly retrofitting programmes once new building regulations come into force in 2025.
· Speed: Short and certain construction programmes mean revenue streams can be accessed as soon as possible, allowing investors to reinvest income into new housing.
ilke Homes will be submitting a Reserved Matters planning application to Milton Keynes Council in April and subject to planning, anticipate starting work on site by the end of 2023. The first homes are expected to be installed from Summer 2024.
Tom Heathcote, executive director of development at ilkeHomes, said:
“ilke Homes continues to expand across the South East, with today’s announcement marking our first site acquisition in Buckinghamshire. Our teams are excited to be working alongside L&Q Estates and some of the UK’s most well-known house builder brands as part of this fantastic consortium, which promises to deliver a well-designed community with placemaking at its heart. Our accelerated construction programmes means the homes will be delivered twice as fast as traditional methods, meaning the local community will benefit from much-needed new build housing as soon as possible.”
Adrian Clack, Managing Director of L&Q Estates, said:
“L&Q Estates and Milton Keynes City Council have been involved in the development of this site for over 20 years, facilitating the delivery of much-needed homes, social infrastructure and facilities for the community in Whitehouse. Modular housing is a really exciting advancement in building energy-efficient properties at a much faster rate and it will be fantastic to see these high-quality properties lowered into place for families to move into and start creating their dream homes. These will be the first modular homes in Whitehouse and we look forward to the first families moving into them next year.”
