Sekisui House to work with New Islington developer and build 2,000 modular homes a year

Tom Bloxham

Urban Splash expects to build 10 times as many modular homes following Sekisui House, the Japanese housebuilder, taking a 35% stake in the Manchester-based developer.

Sekisui House has invested 拢22m in Urban Splash House Holdings, a new operation established alongside Urban Splash, with a view to ramping up capacity at the UK group鈥檚 modular homes factory in Alfreton in the East Midlands from 200 homes a year to 2,000.

The Japanese firm, which has built more than 2.4 million homes across the Far East, Australia and the US, has established a team of four executives in London who will work with Urban Splash on increasing capacity with immediate effect.

Homes England, the government鈥檚 housing delivery agency, has taken a 5% stake in the new business worth just over 拢3m, and provided an initial debt facility of 拢27m, while We Buy Any Car founder Noel McKee has also invested in the operation, worth around 5%.

Yoshihiro Nakai, Sekisui House鈥檚 president, said building high-quality homes with short build times using modern methods of construction was one of his company鈥檚 strengths.

鈥淥ur technology and know-how can help resolve pressing social issues in the UK, and I want to see us play our part effective immediately. These operations can also help bring vitality to UK regions, and we will work to make the strongest connections with the local communities.鈥�

Urban Splash founder Tom Bloxham (pictured) said bringing in new partners would mean the firm will be able to ramp up the number of modular homes it produces.

He added: 鈥淲e chose Sekisui House from Japan because of the company鈥檚 unrivalled global experience in modular construction.鈥�

One of Urban Splash鈥� three modular home varieties is a special edition two/three-storey town house called the 鈥淔ab House鈥�, designed by George Clarke, who regularly appears on Channel 4 design programmes.

Clarke and Urban Splash, which has worked on a string of high-profile schemes over the years including New Islington in Manchester, the former Fort Dunlop tyre factory in Birmingham and the Park Hill estate in Sheffield, own 55% of the business, following the latest investment moves.

The UK鈥檚 modular housing sector is attracting growing interest from overseas investors. Last month US investment bank , which builds homes at its factory in south Derbyshire.