Stewart Milne Timber Systems will this month begin work on a collaborative project to relocate approximately 4,000 service personnel and their families from Germany to Salisbury Plain in South Wiltshire.
The housebuilding project is part of a £250m contract awarded to housing-led regeneration experts, Lovell by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The project will involve the construction of over 900 homes at three sites, Ludgershall, Larkhill and Bulford, by May 2020.
Stewart Milne was selected for the project following a two-stage tender process, with key requirements including a fast build time, high levels of energy efficiency, scope for adaptability, and cost efficiency.
The relocation scheme is part of the MOD’s Army Basing Programme (ABP) and each site will include construction of six different house types, each comprising of three to four bedrooms. Stewart Milne will deliver 467 of the 917 modern homes across two of the three sites: Ludgershall and Larkhill. Each home will have an energy performance improvement of 25% over building regulations.
With a handover rate of approximately 20 homes per week, the high-volume fast-track homes project will be the largest ever contracting scheme for Lovell, part of the UK construction and regeneration group Morgan Sindall Group plc. Stewart Milne has applied its in-house design expertise to successfully adapt its standard automated manufacturing process to align with the specific requirements of the scheme.
Mike Perry, Sales Director at Stewart Milne Timber Systems, said: “This is an exciting housebuilding project for Salisbury Plain, and we’re very proud to be associated with it. We have a proven method for manufacturing high-quality, value-engineered products, consistently on time, and will apply this to meet Lovell’s target of 20 completed homes per week.
“Typical industry pace is delivery of one to two homes per week, so it’s a stretching target, but from the outset of this project, we have all committed to working openly and collaboratively to ensure the successful completion of this scheme. We believe that this project will be an exemplar for the industry. It will demonstrate what can be achieved with an offsite manufactured timber frame solution and a collaborative working relationship with all partners.”
Stewart Milne Timber Systems will begin construction of the first timber frames for the Ludgershall site in June 2018. Construction for the Larkhill site is planned from late summer 2018.
