Accord becomes first UK housing association to open timber home factory

The Accord Group will make history today by becoming the first housing association in the country to open its own factory manufacturing low carbon timber frame homes.

To meet the challenge of building higher quality homes with less Government grant, the Accord Group has developed a hub which will manufacture around 200 timber homes each year.

It will also create up to 30 local jobs and help revive manufacturing in the West Midlands, which has some of the highest levels of unemployment in the country.

With social housing lists almost doubling in the last three years and the smallest number of homes being built in England last year since 1923, the factory will produce new homes with a low environmental impact and with half the running costs of the average new home.

Based in Beechdale, Walsall, it will produce timber homes for rent, shared ownership and sale, which until now the Accord Group has been importing from Norway.

The Accord Group plans to also sell some of the homes it produces to other housing associations and developers, creating revenue to develop new housing products.

Chris Handy OBE, chief executive of the Accord Group, said: “We are extremely proud to become the first housing association to manufacture our own homes in this way and to play a part in bringing industry and jobs back into the Midlands.

“What was once the realm of the private sector will now become a significant part of our operation and one which will generate a new source of revenue to feed back into the services that we provide to some of the most in need.”

The carbon footprint of homes produced at the factory will be half of what is generated when traditionally built brick homes are constructed.

Residents living in the homes can also expect to save money on their energy bills, with costs on average 50 per cent lower than standard properties of the same size.

Alan Yates, director of regeneration for the Accord Group, said: “With fuel poverty a growing concern in this country it is vital that house builders think about how they can make new homes more energy efficient.

“We have a significant development programme and the homes produced at the factory will meet a considerable element of this programme.”