Ellesmere Port-based venture with 4wall will eventually produce 2,000 modular homes a year
Project Etopia, the Cambridge-based modular buildings specialist, has started producing homes at a new factory in Cheshire which it jointly operates with panelised construction system 4wall.
The venture in Ellesmere Port is making 4wall units which will be used in Project Etopia’s modular eco homes scheme in Corby, Northamptonshire, where 47 houses are currently being built.
Project Etopia said the 50,000ft² factory could make five three-bedroom homes a day and would eventually be able to produce 2,000 homes a year.
The company said the factory’s plant machinery allowed for a continuous-line production process (pictured) that can create tens of thousands of panels of different sizes under enormous heat and pressure.
A 110m² shell, made up of lightweight 97kg panels, can be constructed by three people in eight hours and they can be stacked up to 14 storeys high, it added.
4wall said its insulated panels could withstand winds of 400mph and achieve a U-value of 0.13 for thermal efficiency, better than the 0.16 figure required for new homes by Building Regulations.
Project Etopia’s chief executive Joseph Daniels said the factory’s opening was “an important milestone that will help us achieve our ambition to produce 21,500 eco-modular homes by 2025”.
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