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]
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.
We’ve installed the first modular home provided by Wiltshire Council on a site in Durrington.
“We are adapting to the demand for more sustainable and efficient methods of construction and adopting this growing technology to deliver around 150 new homes across the country.
“With their brick slips, render and roof tiles, it’s hard to tell our MMC homes from traditional builds.
“The quality of the building is really impressive – inspectors from the National House Building Council have monitored every step of the process. I’m looking forward to rolling out this technology to more sites across the county and to see our house-building continue to make progress in such an innovative way.”
These modular homes are zero carbon in use thanks to air source heat pumps, smart controls, and solar panels. The modules can be configured as bungalows, flats, or houses to suit residents’ needs.
Last year Magna Housing and Wiltshire Council joined forces to address the housing crisis, appointing us 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.
“We were delighted to be 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,” said our Managing Director Steve Chivers.
“We are building the homes of the future designed for living today. We want to demystify modular housing and champion the benefits that this style of housing can provide in the face of a nationwide housing crisis.
“We are now creating jobs and apprenticeships in the South West, using local supply chain partners, and creating systemic change in our transition towards a circular economy in the region.”
The Durrington development is just the latest stage in a roll-out of new modular homes by Rollalong and our partners across the South West.
We have already manufactured 120 homes and completed the first five sites in Sherborne, Halstock and Dorchester in Dorset for Magna Housing.
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.”
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.”
28th May 2021
We’re pleased to announce that we will be delivering 19 modular dwellings as part of a pilot scheme for Wiltshire Council.
The new homes will be installed in three different locations across Wiltshire and five of them will be wheelchair-accessible bungalows.
Wiltshire Council is investing in modern methods of construction, or MMC, in particular because of the sustainability benefits which this technique can offer.
The homes will provide much-needed affordable housing for people in Wiltshire and will be built to The Future Homes Standard using advanced technology to achieve a low carbon footprint.
We are working with consultants Taylor Lewis and One50studio and the project will soon be submitted for planning consent.
The South West Procurement Alliance (SWPA) was the procurement route for the project through its Offsite Construction of New Homes (NH2) framework.
We look forward to delivering this exciting pilot scheme and to creating more affordable homes for people in Wiltshire in the future!