Modular council homes lifted into position in Sheffield

Four new contemporary homes have been lifted into position in Sheffield for what could be the beginning of a series of modular homes available for affordable rent across the city.

The modular homes have been precision engineered in a quality controlled factory environment in Yorkshire using a light gauge steel frame.

They will look and feel like a traditionally built house, with a brick exterior and a pitched roof.

Provided as part of the council’s ambitious Stock Increase Programme, targeted at delivering 3,100 additional new council homes by 2029, this small-scale scheme will test what’s called ‘Modern Methods of Construction’ (MMC) and the council will be assessing how these new homes fare.

Each home is a four-bedroomed family house built on Knutton Crescent at Parson Cross, an area where there is an identified need for this type of affordable home.

Using MMC brings advantages in terms of speed of delivery, quality assurance and energy efficiency, as well as less construction activity and disruption in the local area compared to a traditional building site.

‘Our aim is to build more quality, warm and affordable homes where they are most needed across the city,’ said Sheffield City Council’s cabinet member for neighbourhoods and community safety, Cllr Paul Wood.

‘I think they look rather impressive and it’s interesting to see how the homes come together as they are lifted on to site and installed with speed and precision.

‘We look forward to asking people what they think of how they look and importantly what it feels like living in a house like this, when families take residence,’ added Cllr Wood.

‘Of course, we’ll be fully assessing the benefits and opportunities that homes like this could bring to the city to see if more of them should be built. As our first step in to MMC for new council homes we have intentionally started small. We hope that building homes in this way in the future on a larger scale will help deliver wider benefits including cost reductions.

‘We’ll be learning from this project, assessing what these homes are like to manage and maintain and how we would do things differently if there are further phases. It’s pretty exciting being a city that welcomes innovation, whilst offering affordable and efficient living, to those who most need a council home.’

Photo Credit – Analogicus (Pixabay)