The sun shone in Redhill, Surrey at the official opening of Mitchell Place, a development of eight low-carbon one-bedroom flats for homeless single parents and young people with support needs.
Transform Housing & Support welcomed 30 guests to the event in Redhill where the guest of honour was Transform’s former Chief Executive Paul Mitchell, who was in charge for nearly half of the housing association’s 50-year history.
The event marked a significant milestone for Transform, showcasing its commitment to innovative housing solutions for homeless single parents and young people in need of support.
The building was manufactured in modular form at Rollalong’s factory in Dorset and transported to Surrey to be installed on site.
The opening ceremony brought together representatives from Rollalong, project managers Playle and Partners and one of the development’s key funders, Surrey County Council.
Guests were given an exclusive tour of two of the completed flats which are designed to meet the specific needs of their residents. A young mother, proudly holding her five-month-old son, shared her gratitude with visitors as she guided them through her new home which she moved into just a few weeks ago. “This place has truly changed my life,” she said.
Our Project Director Iain Steele spoke at the event and highlighted the innovative nature of the project’s construction. “Mitchell Place is a modular build, meaning the units were constructed offsite and then brought in by crane and assembled,” he explained.
“This sustainable, cutting-edge method is extremely energy efficient, providing long-term benefits – including reduced costs – for clients.”
Transform Chief Executive Lawrence Santcross thanked the contractors and said how thrilled the organisation was to have been able to develop Mitchell Place. “We are dedicated to meeting the needs of the communities we serve by providing affordable social housing and tailored support,” he said.
“These eight meticulously designed flats, along with the support we’re offering, will empower clients both today, and in the future, to lead more independent and fulfilling lives.”
The event also showcased women in construction, and architect Hayley Poynter Fenning emphasised the significance of Mitchell Place’s all-women project team. “Gender equality in construction remains a challenge, with only 1% of skilled tradespeople and 16% of senior positions being held by women,” she noted. “This project demonstrates the power of female leadership in driving positive change.”
Paul Mitchell said: “Mitchell Place is the realisation of a dream that began in 1998 with the creation of Chaucer Court, the sister building to this one, so I am delighted that Transform, Rollalong and Playle and Partners have been able to bring this vision to life using such sustainable, modern construction methods.
“I know Mitchell Place will be hugely appreciated by all who live here and call it home.”
Pictured are (left to right) Sarah Young, Pelin Erginsoy and Hayley Poynter Fenning from Playle & Partners, Iain Steele from Rollalong and Suzanne Edwards from Transform Housing.
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Fewer defects, lower whole-life costs and increased customer satisfaction are just some of the benefits of modern methods of construction (MMC).
Those are the key findings in a new report published today (11th June 2024) on the outcomes of an innovative trial to demonstrate how MMC can help tackle the affordable housing shortage in the UK.
Rollalong’s partner Magna Housing commissioned asset management specialists CAMS to produce the proof of concept report.
Magna adopted an award-winning ‘MMC-first’ business case in 2020, setting out to prove that offsite construction could deliver ‘an ordinary home’.
Last year Magna completed its proof-of-concept phase of creating the first 50 factory-built homes in partnership with Rollalong.
The new report highlights evidence of the benefits of Magna’s approach in overcoming challenges to MMC, which include:
- Fewer defects compared to traditionally built homes, saving money and time.
- Overcoming planning barriers, creating homes that complement local environments.
- Increasing customers’ satisfaction with new homes.
- The ability to deliver modular homes from the factory to sites via narrow, rural roads.
- Securing industry standard National House Building Council’s (NHBC) Accepts warranty.
- Lower costs, including maintenance, over the whole life of homes.
- Showing that customers are able to secure a mortgage on MMC homes when sold.
Rollalong’s Sales Director Paul Jones said: “What we’ve created in this proof-of-concept phase is a regional exemplar, a scalable model that can be replicated up and down the country to help solve the housing crisis.
“This report puts an open and honest assessment out to the market following the delivery of the first five sites with Magna Housing, specifically looking just at the superstructure only. These modular housing developments have gone extremely well but like all concepts and new partnerships, we had overcome some challenges along the way, and we want to articulate those challenges in this report.
“Since the last project, which was delivered in 2023, we have fed all lessons learned into our latest house design and manufacturing processes and we are proud to now have a solution which can deliver homes more quickly, more cheaply and to a higher standard than traditional housing projects.
“We’ve had fantastic feedback from customers and Magna Housing are delighted with the quality of the homes.”
“Now well out of the proof-of-concept stage, we are pleased to be continuing to manufacture house types in our Dorset factory,” Paul added. “Let’s break the paradigm of modular house building being difficult and requiring huge quantities – we are currently running house types in batch quantities as small as two for our customers. Get in touch at with Abi at enquiries@rollalong.co.uk for a price and solution that suits you.”
Watch our video explainer below, and scroll down to download the full Proof of Concept Report.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]
We are pleased to introduce our new Sales Director Paul Jones. 
With a career spanning over 20 years, Paul has a wide range of strategic leadership and operational change experience. He has held various senior and executive positions across several sectors including manufacturing, consultancy, construction, automotive aerospace and public sector.
Paul also has a lot of experience in the modular construction sector, having previously worked with Rollalong and other modular companies during Covid in his role at the Cabinet Office. After this he went on to write the current Offsite Framework, which Rollalong successfully gained a place on last year.
His expertise, experience and connections within the MMC sector make Paul a fantastic addition to our senior team.
“Having known and worked in partnership with Rollalong for some years I was encouraged by its ambition for growth and the family feel to the business,” said Paul.
“Many years ago, I started my career as a 16-year-old apprentice toolmaker, before working my way up to being an Engineer for Toyota.
“After that I progressed into senior and directorial roles in a variety of industries, although I have never lost the love for a factory environment.”
Having been a customer of Rollalong before, Paul has a unique perspective that allows him to have a customer first approach, something that will be key in his role as Sales Director.
Paul is originally from Liverpool, loves all sports and has two teenage children.
As part of our ongoing relationship with Yeovil College, we recently welcomed a group of students to our factory in Woolsbridge.
Seven carpentry students and two lecturers joined us to learn more about modern methods of construction (MMC) and how the construction industry is evolving. They also had a tour of the site to see the manufacturing process up close.
One of the students lives in one of our Bull Bridge Mead homes which was a nice surprise! You can read more about our work on that development here.
Yeovil College is looking to make MMC an integral part of the syllabus on its T-Level courses, with support from Rollalong.
Next, we plan to show the students one of our Magna Housing construction sites near Portland so they can see the next phase of our MMC construction process.
Last week we transported 30 modules from our factory in Dorset to Corsley in Wiltshire where we’re working on a development of eight new homes for Wiltshire Council.
The modules were manufactured at our facility near Bournemouth and they will make up six houses and two accessible bungalows on Maud Davies Close in Corsley Heath, a small village between Warminster and Frome in Wiltshire.
Transportation and installation of the modules took just five days, reducing congestion and disruption for local residents in the village.
Five of the homes will be offered for social rent and the other three will be available for shared ownership, increasing the number of affordable homes for people in the area. 
The homes are built to 100% NDSS (Nationally Described Space Standard), will be net zero in operation, and will have all-electric boilers with air source heat pumps.
To encourage environmental diversity and sustainability, bat and bird boxes will be installed on every house, and EV chargers will encourage the use of electric vehicles.
The façades of the houses will be a blend of render and brick-slips in a distinctive banding pattern to reference the Victorian Red Cottages close to the site.
At Rollalong we’re committed to supporting the armed forces community wherever we can, which is why we’re pleased to say that we’ve secured the Bronze Award from the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) and signed the Armed Forces Covenant.
The MoD scheme encourages businesses and other organisations to support the defence sector and inspire others to do the same.
It offers Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards to organisations that pledge, demonstrate or advocate support to defence and the armed forces community and align their values with the Armed Forces Covenant.
The Armed Forces Covenant is a promise by the nation which ensures that those who serve, or have served, in the Armed Forces and their families are treated fairly.
“As a business located in the South West, where the UK armed forces have deep and long established roots in the community, we’re committed to supporting the defence sector and both current and former serving personnel,” said Rollalong Managing Director Steve Chivers.
“We are a major supplier of Single Living Accommodation for the MoD and we have signed up for this scheme in order to emphasise our support for the armed forces generally and former personnel in particular.”
As Bronze Award holders Rollalong has made the following commitments:
- we’ve pledged to support the armed forces, including existing or prospective employees who are members of the community
- we’ve signed the Armed Forces Covenant
- we’re armed forces-friendly and open to employing reservists, veterans (including the wounded, injured and sick), cadet instructors and military spouses or partners
We’ve been working with Elkins Construction to deliver 15 new council homes in Plumstead for the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The Gilbourne Road development is made up of modules manufactured at our factory in Dorset, and our installation team did a great job with the delivery, which was made challenging by the restricted size of the site. All modules were delivered and installed in just eight days!
The development consists of a residential block of 13 flats and two houses which will be available for affordable rent to local people as part of the council’s Greenwich Builds scheme.
The building exteriors were designed to reflect the character of the surrounding area and other nearby apartment blocks. 
The properties are designed to meet net zero carbon emissions standards and the units will employ several energy-saving technologies including solar panels, triple glazing and air-source heat pumps.
By working with us and choosing to use Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), Elkins Construction can deliver lower energy consumption and less waste than would have been the case with traditional construction.
The finishing touches are now being added to the homes and the project is expected to complete soon!
We are pleased to announce that Rollalong has been selected as a chosen supplier on a newbuild development framework put together by Communities & Housing Investment Consortium Ltd (CHIC).
The eight-year framework is valued at up to £3.2bn and is made up of three lots:
Lot 1 – Consultancy Services
Lot 2 – Contractors/MMC Manufacturers
Lot 3 – Development and Regeneration
We have been included on Lot 2 Workstream 2 Fully Modular (Supply Only) and Lot 2 Workstream 4 Development Contracting Services (Full Turnkey).
The framework provides a comprehensive solution to deliver all types of development related works and services to help tackle the housing shortage.
Well done to the fantastic team at Rollalong who have secured another framework win for the business!
Find out more here: https://www.chicltd.co.uk/services/frameworks/newbuild/
Towards the end of last year we handed over a suite of new modular facilities at Beaucroft Foundation School in Wimborne on schedule.
At the start of the summer break we demolished an old double classroom at the school for Dorset Council in order to replace it with a larger double classroom.
In fact, we’ve provided two new buildings on a full turnkey basis: a six-bay double classroom with quiet rooms, lobby and WCs, and changing rooms with WCs and showers for the school swimming pool.
“This was a fantastic effort from everyone involved,” said our Managing Director Steve Chivers, while Projects Director Iain Steele added:
“Brilliant work – well done to all involved as it’s a team effort that make these jobs go so well. That’s three buildings handed over in one week as planned.”
Have a look at this video by Steve Cox of SC Aerial Images to see our installation team in action at Beaucroft School.
If your school needs new facilities or extra space, get in touch with us and ask about our flexible modular buildings.
One of the many benefits of modular offsite construction is the time saved when working on site.
At our flagship land-led development site at West Ashling in the South Downs, we’ve installed all 17 homes inside two weeks, reducing disruption and noise nuisance for local residents.
Nine of these modular low-carbon homes, manufactured in our factory in Dorset, will be for affordable rent or shared ownership.
The site near Chichester in West Sussex is allocated for housing development in the South Downs Local Plan. 
West Ashling will be our first development undertaken for our parent company, the Newship Group, which owns a number of packaging, construction, manufacturing and premium hire businesses.
Jamie Turpin, Construction and Development Director at Newship Group, said: “West Ashling is a great rural residential scheme and the perfect development opportunity we’ve been seeking to combine our current ideal blend of scale and location.
“There has long been a shortage of modest new homes in the favoured western sector of Chichester and the addition of 17 new homes will help support the local housing needs.”