Housing Minister, Esther McVey, has announced a £30m investment in ilke Homes – to help build a ‘hub in the North’ to deliver more homes.
Image: Bjorn Conway, CEO of ilke Homes
The Housing Minister has announced £30million boost for a ‘Construction Corridor’ across the North of England with investment designed to promote modern methods of home building.
Homes England will provide the funding to speed up the delivery of homes at the ilke Homes factory in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire.
Housing Minister Esther McVey MP said: “The North of England has the potential to lead the world in the modern methods of construction that are transforming home building. An industry that when matured would be worth £40 billion a year and provide up to 80,000 jobs. We need to fully embrace this.”
She continued: “This £30 million investment in ilke Homes is a significant step forwards in the development of the ‘Construction Corridor’ – a new hub in the North that is front and centre of building the homes we need.
“It’s vital we invest in new technology to get Britain building. Homes built using modern methods can be of higher quality, greener and built to last.”
Dave Sheridan, Executive Chairman at ilke Homes, said: “This deal is testament to the dynamic approach Homes England is taking to address structural issues within our housing and construction industries.
“The funding will bring in further private capital, creating hundreds more skilled jobs allowing us to build more homes more quickly for first-time buyers.
“We want to continue driving efficiency, quality and sustainability within the housebuilding industry and see this as a fantastic signal to others wishing to do the same.”
The £30million is being allocated from the Home Building Fund, a £4.5billion fund delivered by government housing agency Homes England.
Nick Walkley, Chief Executive at Homes England, said: “Our role is to be bold and take steps to speed up the delivery of homes across the country and there is huge, untapped potential to unleash by creating more capacity in offsite manufacturing.
“Modern methods of construction offer enormous benefits to housebuilding and this deal will have a transformational effect on ilke Homes’ production.”
