Housebuilder hopes to have 450 units in off-site production by 2020

offsite

Crest Nicholson hopes to build around 15% of its homes using off-site manufacturing by 2020, after scaling up trials of the production technique in the next 18 months.

After announcing first half results yesterday, which saw pre-tax profit slip 2% to 拢61m, the housebuilder said it was aiming to have 450 off-site manufactured homes in production within two years.

It told analysts it was progressing with its new core house type range, which would be delivered using both traditional and off-site techniques.

The group said it was planning to scale up off-site production trials and hoped to build the first apartment units over the coming 18 months, with 300 in production next year and 450 in 2020.

Last year Crest built a total of 2,935 homes.

The firm also shed more light on its decision to shut its London operation and re-open a south-east division.

It said central London investment was 鈥渘ot financially attractive鈥� and its exit from the zone 1 鈥� the heart of the capital 鈥� was 鈥渁lmost complete鈥�.

Land prices had been 鈥渋ncreasingly stretched鈥� and sales in the area had had a high dependency on Help To Buy.

A new office in Kent would work with its three existing M25 operations to address what it called 鈥渙uter London opportunities鈥�.

Crest said the move positioned it to drive better financial returns 鈥渨hile retaining operational flexibility鈥� in outer London.

 

 

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