Japanese housebuilder Sekisui has made its first move into the UK market after taking a 35% stake in Urban Splash’s modular House business, while Splash has also secured £30m from Homes England. The deal sees Sekisui put £22m into House, and forms part of a £90m investment which includes £30m of equity and debt funding from the Home Building Fund, administered by Homes England, £35m of equity demerged from the wider Urban Splash Group, and around £3m from We Buy Any Car founder Noel McKee, who will also be taking a 5% stake. JLL and Eversheds Sutherland advised Urban Splash on the deal. Sekisui House is one of world’s largest homebuilders with more than two million homes sold to date, and is listed on both the Tokyo and Nagoya Stock Exchanges. The company specialises in modern methods of construction. Yoshihiro Nakai, president and representative director of Sekisui House said: “Using modern methods of construction to build high quality homes with short build times is one of our company’s great strengths. Our technology and know-how can help resolve pressing social issues in the UK, and I want to see us play our part effective immediately. These operations can also help bring vitality to UK regions, and we will work to make the strongest connections with the local communities.” Tom Bloxham, chairman of Urban Splash, said: “We hope to leverage our 25 years of place-making experience and our recent investments into modular housing by bringing in new partners; having looked far and wide we chose Sekisui House from Japan because of the company’s unrivalled global experience in modular construction and shared values and philosophy that we are making homes not units, and a joint belief in the need for a green future.” Sir Ed Lister, chairman of Homes England, said: “When Homes England launched last year we said we’d disrupt the housing market to increase the pace of construction. By helping bring one of the world’s largest and most innovative housebuilders to UK shores, we’re putting our money where our mouth is.”
Japanese building company Sekisui has entered the UK market after buying a 35% stake in the modular construction business House, run by Urban Splash. The firm is also planning to build more than 100 new homes for people with disabilities over the next five years. Sekisui’s £22m deal is part of a £90m investment in House. President Yoshihiro Nakai said his company’s technology could help resolve the UK's housing problems, while Urban Splash chairman Tom Bloxham said Sekisui had unrivalled experience in modular house building.