7th December 2020
We were delighted to win not one but two awards at the Constructing Excellence South West Awards 2020 on Friday.
Our innovative collaboration to demonstrate the effectiveness of using offsite manufacture to provide social housing won the Offsite Award and the Winner of Winners prize at the online awards ceremony.
We submitted our bid with our partners Magna Housing, the South West Procurement Alliance and Complex Asset Management Solutions (CAMS).
Our entry focused on making the business case for adopting modern methods of construction (MMC) via a strategic asset management approach, modelling comparative whole life costs and producing the modular units.
Magna Housing explored the business case for MMC as a tool for increasing the supply of new homes and developed a strategic Asset Management Plan.
A delivery partner was found by a collaborative process with the South West Procurement Alliance (part of procurement organisation LHC) and a formal tender was carried out to assess the ability and willingness of the potential supplier to collaborate.
LHC and Magna also commissioned CAMS to assess the business case for change from traditional construction to MMC. The results showed that MMC delivers consistency of quality and the best whole-life profile and allows for asset management and maintenance innovation in the future.
After a thorough selection process we were selected as the preferred provider, and we are now working with Magna to manufacture and install high-quality, precision-engineered, attractive, affordable and environmentally sustainable homes throughout Dorset and Somerset.
Steve Chivers, Managing Director of Rollalong, said: ‘Winning these two awards from Constructing Excellence South West is testament to the culture that exists within the partnership. Rollalong set out to innovate, and to achieve that common goal you must collaborate, drawing from the strengths of every alliance member – truly great collaborations push the boundaries of all partners.
“Aggregating demand through the engagement of new clients with our latest range of environmental upgrades and designs for 2021 will further strengthen the partnership, creating endless opportunities for superb collaboration and growth.”
Pictured below are Iain Steele, Rollalong MD Steve Chivers and Darren Moore celebrating Friday evening’s double award win!
7th October 2020
A new report which urges the Government to build 75,000 modular homes a year highlights the ground-breaking partnership between Rollalong and Magna Housing.
Build Homes, Build Jobs, Build Innovation: A Blueprint for a Housing-Led Industrial Strategy was co-authored by Mark Farmer and Mike De’Ath and is currently being considered by 10 Downing Street.
The report highlights the importance of collaboration and spotlights how Rollalong and Magna Housing are working with Dorset Council to demonstrate that beautiful homes, manufactured locally to very high environmental quality standards, can fit well in the context and local character of the region.
It highlights our work to develop design codes and a pattern book of homes and the parallels to the planning white paper proposals.
Magna Housing has already invested in 95 homes, working closely with planners, and the first three planning consents are demonstrating the design versatility of these homes that benefit from Rollalong’s advanced manufacturing experience which ensures that these homes are not only beautiful but built to last.
The report notes: “We would highlight a progressive approach being currently developed in Dorset where Magna Housing Association in conjunction with their manufacturing partner Rollalong are currently agreeing with Dorset Council how a pre-approved pattern book of typologies … can form the basis for accelerated consent.
“This will then enable the forward ordering of modules by Magna to be held in stock. These can then be drawn down as various sites for themselves and other partners who want to collaborate in a purchasing consortium are developed.
“All of this is planned in one of the most architecturally sensitive areas of the country and will minimise impact on communities and accelerate delivery.”
Mark Farmer, one of the report’s authors, is the Government’s MMC champion whose role is to promote the use of MMC or modern methods of construction (including offsite and modular manufacture of buildings) in the UK.
This is Mr Farmer’s first report since the influential Farmer Review of the UK Construction Labour Model, also known as Modernise Or Die, in 2016.
Steve Chivers, Managing Director of Rollalong, said: “It’s very pleasing that our work with Magna Housing has been highlighted in this important report.
“We want to collaborate with clients who understand the benefits of MMC in terms of safety, quality, speed and flexibility, and it’s a pleasure to work with Magna Housing, who have really embraced MMC as the way forward.”
Paul Read, Assistant Director of Development at Magna Housing, added: “This report rightly emphasises the fact that modern methods of construction and innovative partnerships like ours are the solution when it comes to building new homes.
“We have other clients now keen to come on board and we have listened to their demands. The new 20/21 range is hugely exciting, hitting extremely high environmental standards, but we are also listening closely to how people want to live in these homes. In the midst of a pandemic this means we have increased space and accessibility standards and focused on making them made cheap to heat and maintain.
“By developing a pattern book approach with Rollalong we can accelerate delivery of new housing and achieve economies of scale while still building homes that our residents love.”
The Magna homes range is built off site in a factory-controlled setting and are therefore more cost-effective to maintain and quicker to construct, generate less waste and have a lower carbon footprint in use than traditional brick houses, making them a sustainable housing solution.
Councillor Graham Carr-Jones, Portfolio Holder for Housing at Dorset Council, said: “We’re really pleased with the findings in the report and hope that this will see the start of the creation of new, sustainable housing developments in Dorset.
“Here at Dorset Council we’re also using modular homes as part of our Building Better Lives programme which is a joint initiative with our health partners to deliver new health, social care and housing across the county.”
You can read the full report here: https://www.hta.co.uk/storage/app/media/build-homes-build-jobs-build-innovation.pdf