The modular construction sector may be going through turbulent times, but our business is going from strength to strength, writes Rollalong MD Steve Chivers.
We are the largest permanent offsite construction company in the south of England and we’ve built our reputation in the defence, education and healthcare sectors.
We’re now also winning significant residential contracts to provide modular homes for local authorities and housing associations.
In fact, we’re bucking the trend of some recent high-profile failures in the modular offsite construction sector.
Thanks to our many years of experience, our diverse product range and our long-standing partnerships, Rollalong is not facing the same challenges that others are experiencing in the industry.
We have a strong pipeline of work, such as the homes recently ordered by partners Magna Housing and Wilshire Council. With these houses now being produced in the factory, our business is continuing as normal.
Founded in 1932, Rollalong has been in business for over 90 years and specialises in the design, manufacture and installation of permanent offsite buildings. We currently have 1,000 homes on our order books and five proof-of-concept sites complete.
Unlike other offsite manufacturers, Rollalong does not operate solely in the residential sector – we also have a strong pipeline of work in defence, education and healthcare.
Thanks to our location and long history we also benefit from a robust supply chain, and through our current business model we procure factory materials locally wherever possible.
The residential sector is increasingly important to us, and we have demonstrated the value of collaboration through our partnership with Magna Housing, Wiltshire Council and the South West Procurement Alliance.
Working together, we can deliver the volumes that we require using a market-tested, BOPAS and NHBC Accepts accredited portfolio of standard house types in any step and stagger configuration and rollout through a regional delivery model.
These are exciting times as we roll out the delivery of almost 1,000 new net zero carbon ready and net zero carbon living modular homes across Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset, using offsite manufactured, precision-engineered techniques to modernise and speed up the whole process.
An innovative partnership has agreed to create more than 100 modern, energy-efficient new homes for people in the South West.
Housing association Magna, Wiltshire Council and Dorset-based manufacturer Rollalong joined forces last year to tackle the housing crisis using modular building methods. They have pledged to build nearly 1,000 new affordable homes by 2026.
Magna and Wiltshire have now taken another step towards that goal by placing orders for Rollalong to manufacture 109 new, modular homes for five sites across two counties.
The partners have used their joint purchasing power to get better value under a money-saving framework created by the South West Procurement Alliance (SWPA). 
Magna will make 26 of the homes available for affordable rent or shared ownership in Dorset. They will include 14 at Webber’s Piece in Maiden Newton and 12 at the site of the former Royal Manor Arts College on Portland, adding to the 29 Rollalong has already manufactured for the 41-home development.
In Wiltshire, the council will create a further 83 new affordable homes across three sites within the county.
Rollalong uses precision engineering techniques to manufacture high-quality modern homes as modules in its factory near Wimborne Minster. These are then transported, fully fitted with kitchens, bathrooms and electrics, to sites where they will become attractive, energy efficient homes.
Modular manufacturing has potential to deliver much-needed new homes faster and more sustainably than traditional brick housebuilding. Overall, the process generates less waste and has a lower carbon footprint. It also creates less disruption to local people, with fewer deliveries to site over a shorter time.
The partners’ latest range of modular house types are built to be ‘net zero in use’, in line with the Government’s proposed Future Homes Standard, which will require new homes built from 2025 to produce 75-80% less carbon. The all-electric homes will be heated by air-source heat pumps, with a thermally efficient fabric retaining warmth and helping residents keep their energy bills lower.
The homes can be tailored to the local, often rural setting, with a range of house types and finishes influenced by customer feedback. The partners also have the only modular approach in the UK accredited by the National Housing-Building Council (NHBC) able to ‘step and stagger’ terraces of houses so that they have more visual variety.
Magna and Rollalong have already completed 32 new modular homes across sites in Sherborne, Chickerell and Dorchester.
Tony and his husband Kevin recently moved in to their new, rented, modular home at Eddison Avenue in Dorchester. Tony said:
“We’re so happy in our home. We’re warmer than we have been in years. We absolutely love it and cannot believe how lucky we are.”
Paul Read, Magna’s Director of Sustainability and Investment, said:
“These are among the most important new homes Magna has delivered, with our ambition to build the right homes of the right quality in the right places. By collaborating with others and modernising how we build, we are creating homes for local people that will help address the cost of living, energy challenges and contribute towards the UK’s net zero targets.
“Thanks to Government retrofit funding, we also have the opportunity to decarbonise our existing homes, including those neighbouring the new, modular houses at Webbers Piece. These older homes will benefit from external wall insulation, new windows and doors, and air-source heat pumps. The timing means we can look at creating a real sense of place in this rural community.”
Steve Chivers, Managing Director of Rollalong, said:
“We are delighted to have been awarded this latest contract by Magna Housing and Wiltshire Council to design and build a further 109 modular homes under the partnership.
“The aim of our innovative partnership is to deliver almost 1,000 high-quality, affordable, Net Zero-ready future homes in the South West using a local workforce and local suppliers.
“Manufacturing homes offsite in modules is the future for our industry, and our unique partnership provides the volumes we need to make these modern methods of construction work.
“These are the homes of the future designed for living today, and we’re pleased to have the opportunity to promote the benefits of modular housing as a response to a nationwide housing crisis.”
Cllr Phil Alford, Cabinet Member for Housing at Wiltshire Council, said:
“We’re delighted to continue our positive and hugely productive partnership with Magna and Rollalong.
“The houses are built in the most innovative and efficient way, resulting in quality affordable homes for Wiltshire residents, which is a key mission of our business plan.
“Our aim as a council to build 1,000 affordable over a ten-year period is really gathering momentum and we’re committed to successfully achieving that for our communities.”
Mary Bennell, Director of SWPA, said:
“We have worked closely with Magna and Wiltshire Council to provide the innovative procurement solutions required to meet their housing aspirations.
“We were especially proud to support the project by developing a detailed easy to use methodology for assessing the social value outputs at an individual project level for both clients.”
It’s a beautiful day on Eddison Avenue in Dorchester where we’ve just handed over four new modular homes to our client Magna Housing Ltd.
These two and three-bedroom homes are a short walk away from Dorchester town centre. Two of the houses will be offered for sale as affordable housing on shared ownership terms while the other two are available for social rent – and tenants have already started to move in!
The three-bed mid-terrace houses feature:
- Kitchen / diner including a built-in oven, hob and extractor
- Bathroom with shower over bath
- Private rear garden with shed
- Two allocated parking spaces
- Flooring throughout
- NHBC warranty for a modular home
- Lounge / diner
- Kitchen including a free-standing cooker, hob and extractor
- Bathroom with shower over bath
- Private rear garden with shed
- Two allocated parking spaces
- Flooring throughout
- NHBC warranty for a modular home
Our development of eight modular homes at Bull Bridge Mead in Halstock, Dorset is nearing completion.
Our fourth residential site for social housing provider Magna Housing has been challenging in terms of logistics as we have had to negotiate low bridges, narrow country lanes and power lines to the whole village!
The development comprises a mix of one, two and three-bedroom homes all with traditional slate pitched roofs. Two are clad with stone slips to be in keeping with the surrounding area. All the properties Part L compliant, fully electric and energy efficient with solar PV.
Located on the edge of the village of Halstock, the design of our development mirrors the existing, linear semi-detached properties in Bull Bridge Mead. The rear gardens will back onto paddocks with open countryside beyond.
Bull Bridge Mead is a gateway site into Halstock and our first stone-clad homes will provide a stunning welcome for people coming into this beautiful Dorset village.
The development is part of a phase one programme of 46 modular homes and will include provision for bats, birds and bees. Hedgehog holes will be installed in any solid fencing, a hedge which is home to dormice will be relocated, and new nesting boxes will be provided for them.
In addition, the local environment will benefit from new native hedges, trees and planting from the RHS Plants for Pollinators list.
We were pleased to welcome four visitors from Wiltshire Council to our factory on Tuesday.
Mike Dawson (Head of Estates and Development), Mike Kalvis (Senior Contracts Surveyor from the Asset Management Team) and Councillors Tony Jackson (a member of the Climate Emergency Task Group) and Sarah Gibson had a tour of the factory and visited our show home.
As a member of the Environment Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Jackson is interested in lower carbon activity, and topics for discussion were grey water recycling, rainwater harvesting and ground source heat exchange. Rollalong is part of a partnership with Wiltshire Council, Magna Housing and the South West Procurement Alliance which will build nearly 1,000 new homes in the South West over the next three years.
We’re delighted to report that we’ve completed 15 new affordable modular homes on McCreery Road in Sherborne, Dorset and handed them over to Magna Housing.
We manufactured the homes in our factory near Bournemouth and installed them on the site, where all preparation up to ground floor level, highway construction, drainage and landscaping was carried out by the main contractor Fisher & Dean.
McCreery Road is the third site we have completed as part of a partnership with Magna Housing, Wiltshire Council, the South West Procurement Alliance (SWPA) and consultants Taylor Lewis to deliver almost 1,000 new homes in the South West.
The new affordable homes stand on a former garage site a short drive from a similar Rollalong development of three new modular homes at Barton Gardens in Sherborne.
The development will be called St Aldhelm’s Place after St Aldhelm, the first Bishop of Sherborne, for whom an abbey was founded by King Ine in the eighth century.
Delivery of these new homes supports the local economy by employing local people and using local suppliers.
Environmental and biodiversity features include nesting habitats and habitat creation, one bird and bat box for every two homes, two bee and bug bricks for every home, hedgehog holes at the base of garden fences, and a wildflower meadow sown along the boundary with the allotments.
We were very pleased to welcome a delegation from Wiltshire Council for a visit to our factory last week.
Seven colleagues from the council’s housing and climate change teams, alongside three members of the Wiltshire Climate Alliance, had a tour of our facility in Dorset to see how modular homes are manufactured offsite.
They were also keen to talk to us about our carbon reduction road map and how we are reducing the carbon footprint of both our operations and the buildings we manufacture.
We are part of a partnership with Wiltshire Council, Magna Housing and the South West Procurement Alliance (SWPA) which will build nearly 1,000 new homes in the South West over the next three years.
“Our latest range of homes are net zero carbon ready and net zero carbon living, supporting the Government’s objective of delivering net zero carbon homes by 2050,” said Steve Chivers, Managing Director of Rollalong.
“We were delighted to have an opportunity to showcase these homes to our visitors from Wiltshire Council, whose mission is to deliver high-quality, attractive homes that provide residents with affordable housing and lower energy bills.”
People across Dorset, Wiltshire and Somerset will benefit from a new partnership to build more energy-efficient homes for rent and ownership.
Magna Housing and Wiltshire Council have joined forces to address the housing crisis, appointing offsite manufacturing company Rollalong via the South West Procurement Alliance (SWPA) Offsite Construction of New Homes framework, to build nearly 1,000 new homes over the next three years.
At the forefront of this work in the local area, the partners are committed to accelerating the delivery of modular homes in the UK, using offsite manufactured, precision-engineered techniques to deliver much needed homes in the local area, as well as modernising and speeding up the overall process.
The latest range of homes are net zero carbon ready and net zero carbon living, supporting the Government’s objective of delivering net zero carbon homes by 2050. They are cheaper to run than traditionally built homes, with better insulation and more efficient heating, and people living in them will be better off as a result.
Designs can flex from traditional to contemporary to suit the towns and villages across Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset.
The development of these new homes, designed with the end user in mind, supports the local economy by employing local people and using local suppliers. The construction process also reduces any environmental impact as it uses less energy, reduces waste and creates less disruption to local residents, thanks to fewer deliveries to site over a shorter period of time.
With a faster turnaround than traditional methods of construction, as well as a high-quality, standardised product, they will be available more quickly and will be more cost-effective and safer for occupants.
The partnership has made extensive efforts to make sure that the concept and approach works: Rollalong has already manufactured 120 homes and completed the first three sites at Barton Gardens, Woodland Way and McCreery Road in Sherborne, Dorset.
Paul Read, Magna’s Executive Director for Sustainability and New Supply, said: “We have been on an exciting journey leading this approach to modular homes. I am delighted that we are now seeing our hard work turn into reality with new homes now on site and people being ready to move in.
“Our priority, in addition to creating homes designed for living, is to reduce the amount of carbon in delivery and occupation of homes. So in addition to creating great places to live, and beautiful homes, they are also more sustainable and cheaper to run, providing huge benefits for our customers. This partnership will not only make more homes available for local people but will lead the way in how we can transform the delivery of these.”
Steve Chivers, Managing Director of Rollalong, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded the contract by Magna Housing and Wiltshire Council to design and build these modular homes that will provide a range of high-quality, affordable housing for everyone.
“We are building the homes of the future designed for living today. It’s another great opportunity to demystify modular housing and champion the benefits that this style of housing can provide in the face of a nationwide housing crisis.
“This unique partnership delivers the volumes that we require using a market tested portfolio of standard designs – we are aggregating demand through client cluster relationships and rolling out through a regional delivery model.
“We are now working with experienced clients in the South West, bringing jobs and apprenticeships and using our local supply chain partners which demonstrates our commitment to social value.
“Local communities built by local people, using local manufacturers for local people – we are creating systemic change in our transition towards a circular economy in the South West.
“The next step for us is setting work to further reduce carbon from the way we build and live in homes.”
Councillor Phil Alford, Cabinet Member for Housing at Wiltshire Council, said: “One of our key missions within our business plan is to deliver high-quality, attractive homes that provide residents with truly affordable housing, with reduced energy bills.
“Not only are we doing that, but we firmly believe we’re building the highest quality affordable housing in Wiltshire with the lowest rents.
“The work that has gone into securing this three-year contract with Rollalong will provide long-term benefits for residents and the environment and we are really pleased to be on this journey with Magna Housing. This work has demonstrated that when you collaborate and join forces, collective buying power is greater than working alone.
“We can’t wait to see our innovative vision become a reality.”
Mary Bennell, Director of SWPA, said: “We have worked closely for a long time with Magna Housing, and more recently with Wiltshire Council, to provide the innovative procurement solutions required to meet their housing aspirations.
“The demand aggregation approach used here will provide a stable pipeline of homes, via a manufacturing process, and demonstrates benefits in terms of value for money. We hope that this becomes the preferred route for all social housing clients to deliver affordable, high-quality and energy-efficient homes.”
12th August 2021
Using modern methods of construction (MMC) to develop social housing really is as easy as 1, 2, 3!
The South West Procurement Alliance (SWPA) is encouraging smaller social landlords across the South and South West to take advantage of MMC to provide high-quality, energy-efficient homes for their residents.
Working in partnership with Dorchester-based Magna Housing and Wiltshire Council, SWPA has published a simple guide called Easy as 1, 2, 3.
The guide highlights the proven route to procurement and delivery via SWPA and explains how the Magna Housing portfolio of homes can be customised and adapted to meet the local context and the requirements of the people who will live in them.
It also sets out how clients can achieve efficient delivery and cost savings by placing a bulk order.
SWPA is an expert in public sector procurement and offers free-to-use frameworks.
Magna Housing has 100 modular homes manufactured for delivery by Rollalong across Dorset.
Wiltshire Council was the first to see the value in working in partnership and using a ready-made portfolio to prove the concept of offsite manufacture – which is why it was the first to join the cluster.
To download the guide visit https://www.swpa.org.uk/media/exvntkgj/swpa-easy_booklet-v5-1.pdf.