Work starts on Weston Homes’ ‘mega MMC factory’

Construction work has started on Weston Homes’ new 137,000-sq ft modular factory in Essex.

The new factory, in Great Notley, Braintree, will sit alongside an existing facility. Together, Weston subsidiary British Offsite is aiming to develop an production line that will deliver 4,000 homes a year.

British Offsite will also sell exterior building and interior fitout components to housebuilders, builders and contractors in the construction sector, in addition to parent company Weston Group.

The firm says its robotic light gauge steel panel assembly line will be the “most advanced in Europe” and will employ up to 80 people. The £6m production line is being delivered by Swedish firm Randek AB, which creates automated housing production systems.

British Offsite was launched last year with a £35m investment from Weston Homes.

Shaun Weston, managing director of British Offsite, said: “We are pleased to have started construction of our new build-off-site manufacturing and distribution centre at Horizon 120 in Braintree which will form a key part of our strategic expansion plans for British Offsite.

“This new state-of-the-art facility will be one of the largest of its kind within the UK property industry, with one of the most advanced light-gauge steel assembly lines in Europe, meaning we can deliver precise products more quickly for our customers.”

Weston Homes last year posted a five-fold increase in profit to £2.9m and increased turnover from £177m to £213m year-on-year.

However both the pre-tax and turnover figures remain well below the numbers recorded prior to the pandemic.

The housebuilder last year hired former Taylor Wimpey London boss Peter Gore to be its new group operations director, a move it said would further facilitate growth”.

The housebuilder said last year it has built up a pipeline of residential and mixed use development worth £2.1bn in gross development value. This includes 20 current active sites and over 7,500 new homes, with projects including the £350m Abbey Quays urban village in Barking, and the £0.5 billion 10.4 acre Lorimer Village in Goodmayes.