Legal & General Modular Homes, the construction arm of the insurance giant, has secured planning permission for an initial build of 154 modular homes in North Yorkshire. With ambitious plans to deliver 3,000 homes a year by 2024, are Legal & General about to disrupt the modular construction industry?

The Selby development is the first time Legal & General Modular Homes have delivered a development from buying the land to completion. Modular buildings offer a viable solution to the UK housing crisis and securing UK jobs. The Selby development will deliver 50 jobs in modular construction and another 150 across the supply chain, all in support of attractive, low carbon housing.

Back to work
 

Workers have already returned to production after being furloughed on 100% wages, paid for by Legal & General. The controlled factory environment and strict social distancing measures in the 550,000 sq ft facility allow workers to return to the site safely while design and digital engineering has continued remotely throughout the lockdown period.

The Yorkshire facility has brought skilled jobs in modular construction to the area that cut across design, engineering and construction. This maturing industry has the potential to create a £40 bn boost to the economy and make Yorkshire a world-leading powerhouse in the creation of high quality, affordable modular homes.

The housing ladder
 

The Selby development is designed to cater to buyers on all rungs of the housing ladder, with a mixture of 30% affordable homes among the 76 one and two bedroomed flats and 76 two and three bedroomed houses. These modular buildings will achieve EPC Standard A rating, currently only enjoyed by 1% of new builds in the UK.
Modular is all about speed of delivery and each home will take around two weeks to completion. The planning consent for the Selby development is testament to the revolution that is currently taking place in construction, with high quality, low carbon emission homes available in a fraction of the time of traditional forms of construction. A similar scheme under consideration for Bristol is also designed to highlight the benefits of modular construction.

Upskilling construction workers
 

Integral to the success of Legal & General Modular Homes has been the commitment to creating skilled jobs in modular construction. Investment in the Modular Academy at Selby College has driven the creation of in-house resources that allow Legal & General Modular Homes to offer a complete end to end modular development capability. The Selby development is the first fruit of this innovative approach.
As Legal & General Modular Homes continue to progress their future projects, they and similar modular construction-based businesses are driving economic stimulus across a range of developments in areas such as Selby. Legal & General are one of the big success stories of modular construction with 650 houses over 5 schemes currently approved. It's further proof that this method of fast, quality-controlled construction has finally shaken off its past reputation and is providing a very modern solution for post-Covid-19 construction.