好色先生TV Live: Investor鈥檚 housing boss Ian Eggers looking for potential clients and professional partners

Investment giant Legal & General has begun searching for potential partners to deliver its 3,000 unit a year factory-built home plans, the investor鈥檚 modular housing delivery boss Ian Eggers has said.

Speaking at 好色先生TV鈥檚 BIM Show Live conference in London this morning, Eggers said: 鈥淲e are looking for clients and professional partners. Lots of people are knocking down our door already.鈥

Legal & General plunged into the offsite housing market in spring this year, after purchasing a 13-acre warehouse in Yorkshire (pictured) that it is now busy transforming into a giant housing factory.

It also recruited Eggers - a former Mace director who led the company鈥檚 early work on the Shard - to lead on delivery.

Eggers said the firm has installed 10 production lines and up to 拢60m of manufacturing equipment in the facility.

He also confirmed that the first prototype homes 鈥 made of cross-laminated timber sections ready-to-assemble on site like giant pieces of Ikea furniture 鈥 would be produced by the end of the year, or by early next year.

Legal & General will target the build to rent and housing association markets, but its ambitions extend beyond this, Eggers said, to 鈥渉otels and student accommodation 鈥 basically anything with a bed鈥.

Eggers said the key thing the client was looking for from potential partners was 鈥渃ost surety鈥, as well as efficiency, so the firm could concentrate 鈥渕ore time up front on designing鈥.

He said working for such a large client 鈥 Legal & General is one of the UK鈥檚 largest investors 鈥 would help him deliver improvements through the supply chain, including on BIM.

He said: 鈥淔or the first time in 30 years I鈥檓 working in a client organisation. Design is integral. I鈥檝e got the whip hand and I鈥檓 going to change a few things.

鈥淏IM is part of that process. Without it, how do I start manufacturing?鈥