Legal and General unveils prefab home prototype

The two-storey, two-bedroom prototype home (pictured) is located outside L&G’s factory in Selby, near Leeds. The Leeds site is building the capacity to produce thousands of homes per year across eight production lines, employing several hundred people.

L&G aims to use modular building to help address the housing shortage. The method is quicker and more efficient than traditional house building, delivering homes in a matter of weeks.

This is achieved by building precision-engineered homes in a factory environment. The homes are constructed from Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), which delivers environmental benefits by storing one tonne of CO2 in every m3.

Rosie Toogood, chief executive of L&G Modular, said: “The unveiling our first prototype today marks an exciting and important step in our programme to bring modular homes constructed from CLT to market.

“This prototype demonstrates the high quality of our modular solutions, debunking preconceptions of modular housing. At full production, homes like this will be delivered repeatedly in a matter of weeks without the snagging issues faced by traditional methods.”

L&G has been involved in housing activities for nearly 20 years. It holds a stake in CALA Homes; has delivered a 1,000 home scheme in Crowthorne through its own house building arm, Legal & General Homes; and has invested in an institutional Build to Rent product.

With modular housing increasingly seen as a way of answering the housing crisis, experts say brokers need to familiarise themselves with these kind of homes and the financing available for them.

Video of L&G Modular’s prototype home.