British Offsite to ramp up production with new £45m factory

British Offsite plans to ramp up production with its new £45 million modular construction factory.

The firm built the almost 13,000 sqm factory, named Horizon, in Braintree, Essex, and expects to deliver building materials to its parent company Weston Homes, and contractors across the UK. 

British Offsite worked with Swedish engineering company Randek AB on Horizon, which will use automated robot manufacturing for developing materials. 

Full scope 

The company’s UniSystem range includes MMC (methods of modern construction) materials like: light gauge panels, walls, roofs and floors. 

A light gauge steel panel system will be the main output material for Horizon, with British Offsite mainly delivering materials for superstructures and fit-outs for houses and high-rise buildings. 

By focusing on MMC components, the firm aims to reduce delivery times by up to 20%. 

Horizon is the second offsite construction factory for British Offsite, its first being Skyline in 2019, which currently delivers up to 1,000 annually. 

For the first two years, the firm expects Horizon to produce up to 2,000 homes, and 3,000 over the next five years after that. 

Weston Homes will be using the factory for all its major homebuilding schemes going forward, according to a spokesperson from British Offsite. 

The housebuilder is currently working on a 1,100-home project in Norwich, which it expects to complete by 2031. 

British Offsite is also in talks to work with major contractors. 

Enjoyed this? Check out 900 new homes for Leicestershire village.