黑洞社区

Berkeley Group plans to start building modular homes from its factory in north Kent once the facility is operational in 2020.

The housebuilder said the core building of the factory (pictured) is expected to be completed next year, with production to follow in 2020 once fit-out is complete.

The facility will employ more than 200 people and Berkeley said it planned to set up an apprenticeship scheme with a local college to help people get experience of working in modular manufacturing.

Berkeley outlined its modular plans as it reported a pre-tax profit 拢401.2m for the six months to the end of October, down 26% year-on-year, on turnover 1% down at 拢1.65bn. Operating profit fell 22% to 拢402.1m, and net cash came in at 拢860m, versus a year-end figure of 拢687m.

The group, whose shares were up more than 3% in early trading, said it had sold 2,027 homes in the period, down 7%, with an average selling price of 拢740,000, up 3%.

Berkeley repeated comments it made a few months ago around a 鈥渓ack of urgency鈥� in the London and south east.

It added: 鈥淯nderlying demand is constrained by a combination of macro uncertainties and policy interventions. These include high transaction costs and mortgage restrictions, on both income multiples and mortgage offer periods.鈥�

But the firm said that depsite uncertainty around Brexit it was confident that London would remain 鈥渁 vibrant, tolerant and diverse global city, attractive both domestically and internationally where the cumulative demand for new homes is only increasing鈥�.

Berkeley also called for 鈥渢rust and confidence and fresh alignment between the public and private sector鈥� in order to build more homes across all tenures鈥�.

It ramped up its pre-tax profit expectations for the current financial year to around 拢690m.

Build cost inflation remained steady at around 4% a year and the group said it remained 鈥渧ery aware of the risks presented by various Brexit scenarios鈥�.