TopHat submits plans for first apartment scheme

Modular housebuilder TopHat has submitted plans for a further 183 homes at its proof-of-concept Kitchener Barracks development in Chatham, Kent.

The firm, which has already installed more than 100 homes on the site, has put in plans to Medway Council for a further 183 homes, including its first ever modular apartment blocks.

The Goldman Sachs-backed modular housebuilder plans to build 96 apartments across three four-storey blocks in the latest phase of the scheme, in order to show it can build a range of different residential accommodation types.

The modular homes will be built in TopHat’s factory in South Derbyshire and shipped to site from there. It plans for 32 of the homes to be affordable, with 302 delivered on the 4.8-acre site overall.

TopHat in 2019 received £75m in backing from investment bank Goldman Sachs, in order to further its expansion plans. Last year it announced a partnership with Ikea’s MMC housing offshoot BoKlok to deliver its homes in the UK.

TopHat chief executive Jordan Rosenhaus told Housing Today last year that the firm was using the Kitchener Barracks scheme to test its products and demonstrate to potential customers its ability to deliver high quality homes and successful schemes. He insisted the firm has no long-term ambition to become a developer, instead wanting to focus on being a manufacturer and installer.

TopHat said in a statement that building and installing its first apartments would open up the possibility of it supplying homes into the build to rent and co-living markets.

Krishan Pattni, chief design officer and founding director at TopHat, said: “By diversifying our product range, we are now able to deliver a higher volume of homes to a wider range of partners. Our company continues to grow, and I’m pleased that the quality of our homes is being recognised by significant partnerships with industry leaders such as BoKlok.”