Plans revealed for huge modular housing scheme at Boots site

Modular housing company ilke Homes has been selected by Boots to deliver the UK’s largest low-rise modular housing development – a 622-home scheme in Beeston, Nottingham.

The deal, brokered by Blackstar Advisory, will unlock a 43-acre housing site that sits in close proximity to Boots’ UK headquarters and is part of the wider 286-acre Nottingham Enterprise Zone, which was granted its status by the UK Government in 2011.

Boots UK’s decision to select ilke Homes to deliver this significant regeneration scheme represents the first time it has released any part of its Nottingham site holdings for housing.

The announcement follows recent news that ilke Homes has reached a milestone valuation of £200m and has a pipeline of over 3,000 homes; this is despite being founded just three years ago.

ilke Homes says it will work with its architects HTA Design to curate a “model village” development

Subject to planning consent, the proposed scheme will become ilke Homes’ flagship site, and will be designed to maintain the existing campus feel and integrate sympathetically into the surrounding area, which includes iconic twentieth century buildings, the Beeston canal, and the River Trent meadows beyond.

The proposed scheme will seek to deliver 505 houses together with 117 apartments. All the houses will be manufactured along production lines at ilke Homes’ 250,000 sq ft factory in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire.

BAll 505 homes will have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of at least a ‘B’, making them more energy-efficient than 92% of all new-builds in the UK. Higher levels of energy performance are also expected to translate into huge long-term cost savings on energy bills for residents, with the homes being able to run on as little as £1-a-day.

ilke Homes will manage the entire development process – from securing the land deal, and obtaining gaining planning permission, through to developing the site and delivering the homes.

A Reserved Matters planning application is due to be submitted imminently.

Tom Heathcote, executive director of development at ilke Homes, said: “This site represents a truly special opportunity to create a unique and sustainable housing development within the established Nottingham conurbations. The site is steeped in rich heritage and has been a central part of Boots’ success story over the last few decades, so we are incredibly excited for the opportunity to work alongside Boots, HTA Design, and the local stakeholders at both Broxtowe Borough and Nottingham City Councils to truly transform this redundant industrial space into a well-designed new community and provide better homes in a better way.”

Mark Chivers, director of estates for Boots UK, said: “We are delighted to partner with ilke Homes to develop this site to provide high-quality, affordable and energy-efficient housing for people in the local area. Because of the historical significance of this site and everything it represents in terms of our company heritage it was vital that we find the right partner. I am pleased that the site will be put to good use and look forward to seeing a thriving community emerge there in the coming years.”

Tim Garratt, CEO of Blackstar Advisory, said: “This is probably one of the most important and strategically significant residential land deals in a generation for Nottingham. It was clear from the outset of the project that the client wanted something away from the ordinary, not an estate of little boxes. We worked very hard with Ilke Homes and their architects to get a solution which satisfies the positive legacy we wanted.”