A housing association which made history by becoming the first to open its own timber-frame home factory is to launch a new construction arm – boosting house-building.

Accord Group, which opened its award-winning LoCaL Homes factory more than a year ago, will now build the homes, that it already designs and manufactures itself, through a brand new construction management team.

The ground-breaking move is expected to generate significant savings by reducing the cost of using external agencies and contractors, with savings ploughed back into building more new homes.

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Mike Stockle, who has 33 years of experience in the construction industry, will head-up the new division which will oversee the first development of 22 new homes in Wolverhampton, amongst many others.

The new homes, in the Bushbury area of Wolverhampton, will be designed, manufactured and built by the Accord Group – a first for a West Midlands housing association.

Chris Handy, Group Chief Executive of the Accord Group, said: "We are delighted to launch our own construction team which will enable us to erect the timber-framed homes that we are manufacturing in our LoCaL Homes factory.

"The savings we make from doing this will also ensure that we stay ahead of increasing costs and meet the challenge of building higher-quality homes with less Government grant to do so.

"At a time when house-building in the UK has slumped to a 30-year low, it’s vital that we continue to build new homes and this will help us to do that by reducing costs."

(CD)