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Chinese offsite factory firm in talks with Welsh council
The company behind a huge Chinese-backed offsite construction partnership has announced talks with a council in South Wales over a new joint venture.
Swansea City Council has signed a memorandum of understanding with Live Verde to begin formal discussions for a low-carbon modular housing pilot in the area.
Live Verde – formed by renewable energy specialist We Link in partnership with Chinese government-owned China National Building Material (CNBM) and Your Housing Group – aims to build 25,000 homes a year from six factories around the UK by 2022.
It hopes the talks with Swansea could lead to hundreds of super-low-energy new homes being manufactured in a plant in Wales each year.
The council would identify suitable sites in the area for the new homes, which will be for a mixture of sale and rent, while Live Verde will meet planning and construction costs.
The landlord for the new homes will be decided after the joint venture has been established.
Talks have been backed so far by the Welsh Government and the UK government Department for International Trade.
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“I’m pleased to have been able to secure this announcement with Swansea that could see significant investment in low-carbon offsite manufactured homes in the region,” said Stephen Haigh, chief executive of Live Verde.
“The homes will be constructed using British-produced light gauge steel frames that are manufactured to a high level of precision in a factory, with key components then transported to site and assembled.”
Rob Stewart, leader of Swansea City Council, said: “This agreement is a demonstration of a growing economic partnership between Swansea and China, where we’ve been busy promoting Swansea as an innovative, business-friendly city where inward investment is embraced.
“We’ll now hold further talks with Live Verde as we look to establish a joint venture with the company that will help quickly tackle Swansea’s need for more housing, generate hundreds of jobs for local people and support Swansea supply chain businesses by ensuring materials and labour are locally sourced.”
The first homes for Live Verde’s first 50-unit pilot in Manchester, built at a factory in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, are due to be on site just after Christmas.
