Daiwa House Modular Europe Ltd is Europe’s largest modular building company.

Following decades of success in the Benelux region, they have recently laid down roots in the UK and have establish a commercial prescece on the waterfront in Swansea.

For their first UK build, the European modular experts were invited by developer Abode Waterstone to deliver a pilot scheme of two, semi-detached affordable modular homes on a site near Neath, South Wales.

The Abode Coed Darcy scheme is phase one of a wider development that will see the transformation of a former British Petroleum Oil Refinery site into a 4,000-home development. Plans also include onsite primary and secondary schools, a district centre, community facilities and green open spaces for the whole community to enjoy.

Working on behalf of Coastal Housing Group, who are renowned for their forward-thinking, sustainable approach to social housing delivery, this pilot proved to be the perfect opportunity for Daiwa Housing Modular to demonstrate their expertise, with a view to securing future business in South Wales and the rest of the UK.

As this was a pilot scheme, these two timber framed volumetric houses were built at Daiwa Housing’s manufacturing plant in Holland, dismantled and shipped to Swansea. Bathrooms, kitchens and all internal services came already pre-installed.

Since production of the units took place overseas – at a time when the world was in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic – one of the biggest challenges for the collaborative project team was the inability to oversee production before the units were shipped to site.

Once the pods had arrived safely into the UK, they were craned onto site, reassembled and the external façade works commenced. Local specialist Joyner Group headed up the installation of the external wall insulation system, and using Wetherby Building System’s KIWA approved direct-fix system, mechanically fixed 50mm of enhanced EPS to first floor elevations, and 50mm of high density ridged EPS to the ground floor. The first floor was encapsulated using WBS 4S thincoat render in colour ref. 0500N and the ground floor given a homely finish using 15mm WBS Merida Red brick slips.

Technical Sales Manager for Wetherby Building Systems, Jonathan Gardner, who has overseen this pilot on behalf of the system provider said

“The Coed Darcy project is one of the most important regeneration schemes for the County Borough and is set to provide a significant number of ultra-high quality houses and community facilities for the residents of Neath Port Talbot and beyond.”

“This pilot scheme has been enormously successful and the Client is delighted with the results. It clearly demonstrates the growing confidence in the benefits of modular technology as well as the speed at which a domestic dwelling can be manufactured, placed on site and residents introduced.”