One of Britain’s largest housebuilders hopes to start building factory-made homes this year with the aim that up to a quarter of its homes could eventually be prefabricated. Berkeley Homes acquired a 160,000 sq ft site in Ebbsfleet, Kent, last year to build modular homes. The factory will eventually produce about 1,000 homes a year. Once built they can be installed in half a day. Berkeley builds about 4,000 homes a year. The company said last month that the use of modular construction was partly a response to the “skills crisis” facing the industry and to fears of a drop-off in the supply of workers from the EU. There is a drive towards new “preengineered” housing to help to relieve an acute housing shortage in
UK builders Berkeley Homes has said it could start making prefabricated houses this year . The company acquired a 600 sq ft factory in Ebbsfleet , Kent last year , with the aim of making 1,000 prefabricated homes a year , amounting to a quarter of its total output . builders Homes said the move into prefabricated houses was partly in response to a financial crisis in the housing industry and partly to address the urgent need for more housing in the UK .