LoCaL Homes

As part of our longstanding commitment to the environment, the Accord Group recently became the first housing association in the UK to manufacture low-cost, energy efficient timber homes.

The Low Carbon Living (LoCaL Homes) factory in Beechdale, Walsall, enables the Group to annually produce around 200 offsite-manufactured low-carbon homes. The properties produce on average 50 per cent of the carbon emissions of traditional brick built homes and 50 per cent lower fuel bills, reducing costs for both the Group and residents of the new homes. The embodied carbon in the manufacturing process is also a fraction of that in traditional homes as timber locks in carbon from the atmosphere as it grows.

The LoCaL factory offers highly insulated two, three and four bedroom houses and bungalows, for which the panels can be quickly erected onsite in just one day.

Around 30 local jobs have also been created at the factory, putting further investment into the community and helping to reverse local unemployment levels and manufacturing decline. Panels for the Group’s three successful previous developments in Redditch were imported from Norway, and the lower costs of producing the homes locally will lead to greater revenue and increased reinvestment into the rest of the Group’s work.

A number of homes retained by the Group will help to meet housing need across the West Midlands through affordable rental and purchase schemes. Sites for these homes have already been identified in Walsall, Darlaston, West Bromwich, Dudley, Wolverhampton and Redditch.

Although not directly available to the general public, organisations wishing to take advantage of this innovative and cost-saving construction method are welcome to propose requests for supply. To discuss your organisation’s requirements, please email Head of Project Development John Bedford or call 0300 111 7000 extension 3885.

For more information on the factory’s work, please email manager Jason Powell.


Watch video of the  first LoCaL Homes being erected onsite: