Mar City pushes on as its eyes a modular future
WEST Midlands housebuilder Mar City has reported growth in line with expectations for the six month period ended June 30 and is reporting great interest in its new modular construction initiative.
In a trading update, the firm, which has bases in Birmingham and Solihull, said it had made made excellent progress in the first half of the year, successfully executing a strategy of delivering high quality new homes in its core geographies of the Midlands, London and the South East.
“During the period the company has delivered further significant growth, with completions tracking comfortably in line with internal budgets and we have increasing confidence for the full year as we move into the second half,” it said.
Mar City launched its first modular construction development – Green Point – in Collindale, North London in May. This 102 apartment site is on schedule for completion in September with 80 apartments already pre-sold with the remainder due for open market sale in due course.
It has also started work on its second site using modular technology at Leamore near Walsall.
As part of this development, Mar City has demonstrated the construction of two semi-detached houses from foundation level up within three days.
The firm said the majority of new sites will now be moved into the development stage utilising this ground-breaking modular construction methodology during the second half of the year, which will allow it to significantly increase levels of production.
Mar City says it has also benefited from the strength in the market for new affordable homes where it has seen very strong consumer demand for its new homes which has been supported by the availability of the Government’s Help to Buy scheme. It says this has been particularly evident across its new developments in the Midlands.
Since May Mar City has acquired control of a further 472 plots across the Midlands, London and the South East in line with its strategy to build a three to five year land bank.
The firm said it expects to achieve its target of securing a total of 3,000 plots by the end of the year.
Chief executive Tony Ryan said: “We expect to achieve further strong progress in the trading performance in the second half, particularly as the company benefits from the high levels of interest in Mar City’s current programme of open market sales developments, which are translating into progressively higher levels of reservations and private sales completions and with increasing levels of sales to housing associations and social housing providers, where the levels of interest remain buoyant.
“We have been delighted with the response to the recent launch of our new modular technology.
“It is an innovation which we believe will continue to receive critical acclaim and we have been extremely pleased with the enthusiasm it has already received from within the industry and from our commercial partners, as they recognise how innovation can help improve the speed of production, overcome the issues of skills shortages and accelerate the rate at which quality new homes can be introduced into the UK housing market.”
