ilke Homes has craned into place the first factory-built homes on a site in Hereford.

The company is currently delivering an affordable housing scheme for housing provider Stonewater.

The scheme, which sits on College Road, is being delivered through a £23 million partnership between ilke Homes and Stonewater.

Supported by Homes England, the formerly derelict site on the Holmer Trading Estate is being transformed to tackle the local growing demand for affordable housing – with work on site set to complete by early 2024.

The site, which was secured by ilke Homes from the landowners and subsequently bought by Stonewater last year, was the first project ilke Homes had secured under its full development 'turnkey' offering. This approach involves the housebuilder leading the entire development programme, from site identification and gaining planning consent, through to developing the scheme and finally installing the factory-built homes.

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The planned development is set to deliver 74 affordable rent and 46 shared ownership homes, comprising a mix of one, two, three and four-bedrooms, underpinned with accreditations from NHBC, the leading home construction warranty and insurance provider.

All the homes being delivered at the former Holmer Trading Estate will be manufactured along production lines at ilke Homes 250,000 sq. ft factory in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire – a facility that is backed by a £30 million investment from the Government’s national housing agency, Homes England.

There were just 52,100 affordable homes completed in England in 2020-21, representing a 12 percent decrease. However, there is a national housing waiting list of more than 1.1m households, according to homelessness charity Shelter, underlining the need for more affordable homes.

A slowing down in affordable housing completions is being compounded by rapidly rising house prices, which have hit record highs for over five consecutive months. According to Rightmove, prices hit £368,614 this month.

Thanks to precision-engineering techniques, the homes being delivered will be some of the UK's most energy-efficient. All homes will achieve at least a 'B' Energy Performance Certificate rating, making them more energy-efficient than 92 percent of the UK's housing stock.

The energy performance of each home also translates into huge cost savings for Stonewater’s customers, who could save hundreds of pounds on energy bills each year, as it is far cheaper to heat and power one of ilke’s homes compared to a traditionally built due to increased levels of air tightness.