18 housing groups team-up for offsite homes push

The newly launched Offsite Homes Alliance (OSHA) aims to work together with offsite suppliers to increase the delivery of factory-built homes.

Currently, the alliance is focused on completing a business case and setting up the legal and operational governance, and is likely to be procuring homes by the middle of this year, with the potential to set up a joint venture in 12 to 18 months’ time.

The alliance currently has 75 supply chain partners registered on its purchasing system, and is currently evaluating 36 different offsite technologies.

OSHA partners

Bolton at Home, Gentoo, Great Places, The Guinness Partnership, Irwell Valley, Jigsaw, Mosscare St Vincent’s, One Housing, Riverside, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, Stockport Homes, Thirteen, Together, Trafford Housing Trust, Wythenshawe Community Housing and Your Housing Group.

The project will be led by recently appointed project director Mike Ormesher, previously a director at the modular firm Top Hat.

The overall ambition is to deliver 9,000 homes per year through the alliance, a target that could be achieved between 2022 and 2023 based on the current number of landlords involved in the programme.

Pete Bojar, Executive Director of Growth and Assets at Great Places said: “OSHA provides the opportunity for Housing Associations to drive and support the development of the off site homes industry, leaving behind the endless “pilot projects” culture to secure strong supply chain partnerships for the future.”