Brand new 3,500 homes-a-year Bardon factory had been put up for sale by Countryside prior to Vistry buyout
Housebuilder Vistry is planning to use the brand-new offsite factory it acquired as part of the purchase of Countryside to sell modular homes to housing associations and SME developers as well as supply its own build programme.
Stephen Teagle, chief executive of Vistry鈥檚 partnerships housing arm, now known as Countryside Partnerships, confirmed the 鈥渋ncredible鈥� facility at Bardon, which had been built at a cost of 拢20m and then quickly , will now be retained by the group.
Prior to the of Countryside by Vistry, Countryside had , with losses at the new facility blamed in part for a huge profit warning which a year ago.
The 3,500 homes-a-year capacity factory at Bardon, is the newest of three owned by Countryside to come across with the deal, with Teagle saying the two older factories were already 鈥渇ully deployed鈥� delivering homes for group鈥檚 development pipeline.
Teagle said Vistry was still developing its plans for the massive 380,000 sq ft Bardon plant, given its huge capacity. He said: 鈥淵ou go there and you think, where鈥檚 the end? You will be astonished at the sheer scale of it.
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鈥淲e are committed to reinvest, to continue to use the factory. So, we鈥檙e not closing down Bardon, quite the opposite we鈥檙e looking to increase production.
鈥淲e will be bringing those [other] existing factories up to full capacity through our own and through our own programmes of delivery.鈥�
But he added: 鈥淥ur hope is we will be using Bardon for our own delivery, but in addition to that, there is capacity at Bardon to work with SMEs, to work with housing associations on delivery of their own programmes through that factory.鈥�
In its half year results to March 31 this year, Countryside reported losses of 拢6.5m from its manufacturing businesses, of which, it said, approximately 拢3m was in relation to the new facility at Bardon.
The news comes a week after Essex-based housebuilder Weston , potentially capable of producing 4,000 homes a year from June this year. Both ventures follow a , with high-profile ventures by Urban Splash and Caledonian Modular going into administration.
Teagle has previously told Housing Today that Vistry鈥檚 partnerships business plans a , despite the weakness in the market.
On Friday Countryside Partnerships with housing association Torus to build out a 1,200-home scheme in Warrington, with the project due to make use of Countryside Partnerships鈥� .
Vistry the value of its forward order book had soared by 70% to 拢4.6bn, largely as a result of the Countryside deal, despite the slowdown in the market.
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