Legal & General Capital unveils modular homes construction factory

Legal & General Capital (LGC) has announced the launch of its modular housing business, Legal & General Homes, which will produce precision engineered factory manufactured houses from a new factory in the north of England.

Legal & General Homes has signed a long-term lease with Logicor on a 550,000 sq ft warehouse in Sherburn-in-Elmet, 15 miles east of Leeds. The factory, which it claims will be the largest modular homes construction factory in the world, will initially employ 400 to 500 local people, it expects to deliver its first houses in June.

Paul Stanworth, managing director of Legal & General Capital, said: “Sustainable, durable modern materials and proven technology will enable us to create high-quality homes meeting a wide range of housing needs and help solve the UK’s housing crisis. Modern modular housing in the UK has so far been restricted to the top end of the market: the scale of our Sherburn facility will enable many more people to benefit from new, environmentally-friendly construction techniques which have already become mainstream in Europe.”

The factory will produce homes tailored to meet customers’ designs and needs, ranging from 20-storey apartment blocks to rows of terraced, semi-detached and detached houses.
Time spent building on site will be reduced by more than 70%, compared to traditional techniques, manufacturing sections in advance and delivering them to the site to be installed.

Tom Ground, chief executive of Legal & General Homes, said: “Legal & General Homes aims to deliver a new solution to the problems we face in the UK, addressing the shortage of suitable, affordable and sustainable housing by manufacturing higher quality, energy efficient, lower cost housing.”

Cross laminated timber and automated technology will be used to remove shrinkage, cracking, wet trades, plaster jointing and nailing – reducing repair costs as the building settles.