The timber frame industry has welcomed further details of a massive government plan to build 200,000 new homes in the south-east of England.
Deputy prime minister John Prescott named areas to be developed in the first phase of his sustainable housing plan, including £130m for projects at the London end of the Thames Gateway, £100m for north Kent and £91m for south Essex.
More than £100m will also be allocated shortly for projects awaiting approval, while urban development corporations will be created in Thurrock and East London.
Hugh McKay, executive chairman of Stewart Milne Timber Systems, said: “This has been talked about for a number of years and was part of our strategic justification for developing our Witney factory, so we are really pleased to see the government putting some acceleration behind it.
“We are very interested in that type of housing because it provides an ideal balance between social and private housing.”
Mr McKay said he hoped Stewart Milne would be involved in one of the the building plan’s partnerships to design houses suitable for automatic production. “There is the possibility for repetition and standardisation, providing better quality houses, without detracting from the architectural merits,” he added.
Robin Davies, marketing director of Westbury plc’s Space4 modular timber systems factory, said: “This is putting a bit more meat on the bone and is good news for Space4. We would expect to be part of the solution and are talking to a range of other housebuilders about Space4.”
Mr Prescott’s plan, entitled “Sustainable Communities – Building for the Future”, encourages the use of off-site factory engineered construction methods.
