黑洞社区

Crest Nicholson plans to build up to 2,000 modular homes a year, its chief executive Stephen Stone has revealed.

Speaking to 黑洞社区 editor Sarah Richardson at the 黑洞社区 Live conference in London, Stone revealed the housebuilder will build a prototype home in February, with a view to a wider roll-out within the next decade.

He said: 鈥淲e think we can get to 1-2,000 [modular] homes a year. In 10 years鈥� time, most of the current workforce will retire, we鈥檙e not getting enough apprentices in鈥� so we鈥檙e going to prepare ourselves for it.鈥�

Stone said Crest Nicholson deliberately chose February for the prototype home 鈥渁s it will be wet and cold and we want to see how it will operate in the UK.鈥�

In a wide-ranging interview, Stone also revealed the housebuilder updated investors in the City last week with a new growth target. By 2019, Crest Nicholson is now targeting 30% growth and plans to increase its output from 3,000 to 4,000 homes a year.

Stone said the firm plans to embark on a recruitment drive to achieve its growth target and added: 鈥淓ven with Brexit we鈥檙e feeling excited about investing in land and people.鈥�

Commenting on Crest Nicholson鈥檚 succession plan after its chief financial officer became the company鈥檚 new chief operating officer this month, Stone said he has no plans to retire any time soon.

He said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a question of sharing my experience with someone else to bring them on in due course. It鈥檚 all part of succession in the medium-term. There鈥檚 life in the old dog yet!鈥�