A Suffolk-based housing association plans to triple its off-site manufacture programme after developing a groundbreaking partnership that keeps costs down to traditional new-build levels.
Flagship Housing Group expects to build up to one-third of its new homes through the partnership, which keeps the cost of using OSM within Housing Corporation cost guidelines for the first time.

Flagship, which currently builds about one in ten of its 500 homes using OSM, worked with off-site manufacturer Omar, contractor Lovell, architect Ingleton Wood and agent Oxbury to develop the partnering agreement, known as FOLIO.

Under the agreement, build costs for the timber-framed homes are kept to levels similar to traditionally built homes 鈥� about 25% less than usual.

This means they fall within the corporation's total cost indicators, used as a framework to agree scheme funding.

The association's operations director, Martin Aust, said: "We have been able to do this because we brought the whole team together from day one. We also benefited from using well-tested methods such as timber frame."

Work on the first 10 FOLIO homes has begun in Norwich. They are expected to take 37 weeks to complete.

Source

Housing Today