A new off-site manufacturing system for affordable housing has been launched.

Architect Cartwright Pickard teamed up with manufacturer Pace Timber Systems to set up Optima Homes earlier this month.

The system, made up of wall panels and bathroom and kitchen pods, is suitable for terraced and semi-detached houses up to three storeys. In future, it could be adapted for use on five-storey apartment buildings.

James Pickard, director of Cartwright Pickard Architects, said: “Optima Homes has been developed as an innovative response to the housing and skills shortages.”

The homes will be built at Pace’s new factory in Milton Keynes.

Deputy prime minister John Prescott has repeatedly pressed for more units to be built using modern methods of construction, believing it will speed up housebuilding.

The Housing Corporation aims for a quarter of the homes it funds to be built using off-site methods. Earlier this month, corporation chief executive Jon Rouse told the House of Commons environmental audit committee that 49% of homes funded had used modern methods.

But he added: “The definition of modern methods that we are using is pretty wide, but I do not think that is necessarily such a bad thing.”

Source

Housing Today