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Engineering giant unveils bid to build ‘thousands’ of social homes on brownfield sites
Global engineering giant Atkins has unveiled ambitious plans to use offsite construction to develop social homes on brownfield sites, as part of a new venture to tackle the housing crisis.
The London-based firm, which is owned by Canada-based SNC-Lavalin, has launched the unit in a bid to work with UK councils to potentially deliver thousands of new homes on brownfield land where it was previously thought too difficult.
Atkins will aim to build the homes using offsite techniques to offer an “end-to-end” solution for councils. The land and homes will be retained by the local authority, which will then either be run by the council or a housing association.
The new division, called Everyone Deserves a Roof Over Their Head (EDAROTH), is in “advanced conservations” with a number of councils that Atkins already works with.
“The response and interest has been strong,” Mark Powell, managing director EDAROTH, told Inside Housing.
EDAROTH is currently working on a pilot scheme with Lambeth Council to develop four homes on a brownfield site.
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Mr Powell said: “Social housing is a long-standing national problem which will not be solved without innovation and positive disruption.
“Our approach allows us to deliver social housing where it’s needed most by transforming brownfield land to bring forward much-needed housing developments which benefit from existing infrastructure, utilities and services.”
Asked about its target for the number of new homes, he added: “In the long term we want to scale this up to deliver thousands of homes, but the short term is focused on growing a pipeline across the UK.”
As part of Atkins, which currently employs around 18,300 people across the UK, North America, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and Europe, EDAROTH has, Mr Powell said, the “ability, capacity and appetite to scale up”.
A white paper, released alongside the launch of EDAROTH, stated: “MMC [modern methods of construction] developments unlock small parcels of brownfield land that traditional developers often find too difficult and expensive to consider.
“This presents a huge opportunity to unlock the real potential brownfield land can deliver.”
England currently has around 25,000 hectares of land covered by brownfield sites, which could be used for more than a million new homes, according to the white paper.
As the government targets a million new homes (of unspecified tenure) over the next five years, the debate over where they should be built rumbles on.
Prior to the general election, housing secretary Robert Jenrick appeared to rule out the idea of building on the green belt.
Housing minister Esther McVey also weighed in by urging a council to prioritise building on brownfield land rather than the greenbelt.
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