Vistry Group, the homebuilder, has re-opened the timber frame manufacturing plant it acquired as part of its combination with Countryside Partnerships. The relaunch of the mega facility sees it branded as Vistry Works East Midlands.
The 356,000 sq ft facility has the capacity to deliver in excess of 6,000 homes per year. This, combined with Vistry’s existing two factories in Warrington and Leicester with a delivery capacity of 5,000 homes for full year 2024, creates a strong strategic asset for the group to deliver MMC at scale.
Underpinned by the scale of the expanded Vistry Group business, the new factory is expected to deliver over 2,000 homes in its first year of operation, with approximately 40% of these for new sites.
In addition to supplying new homes with open panel frames for the group’s mixed-tenure Countryside Partnerships business and Housebuilding business, including the provision of Housing Association and PRS units, the new MMC facility will facilitate the delivery of homes to meet the Future Homes Standard which comes into operation in 2025.
Speaking of the relaunch, Scott Stothard, the group’s manufacturing & special projects director, says: “Vistry’s investment in the relaunched East Midlands timber frame facility creates the capability for us to capitalise, at scale, on the benefits of factory manufactured construction, delivering high quality sustainable homes faster and more economically than traditional methods of construction and in a more environmentally friendly way.
“As well as the opportunities this brings to help address the housing shortage, the relaunch of this new facility will be a boost to local job creation, creating a positive socio-economic impact in a region which is important to us.”
Earl Sibley, Chief Operating Officer, Vistry Group, says: “The investment we’ve made illustrates our confidence in timber frame.
“The demand for new homes in this country shows no sign of abating now or in the long-term and by aligning our investment plans with the housing needs and consistent order book of our well-established partners, we can deliver more homes across a broad mix of housing tenures using the production capacity our combined MMC facilities provide.”
