Property firm House by Urban Splash, which is involved in a £55m joint venture with Peel L&P to build modular homes at Wirral Waters, has collapsed into administration. Tony McDonough reports
A modular homes business that is part of a £55m joint venture to install factory-built homes at Wirral Waters has collapsed into administration.
House by Urban Splash, which de-merged from the wider Urban Splash property group in 2019, has already installed 30 modular homes at East Float in Wirral Waters in partnership with Peel L&P. Prices on the homes start at £210,000.
Earlier this week it was announced a planning application had been submitted for a further 50 homes on the site as part of a phased project that will eventually see 351 modular homes installed.
Early on Thursday it was revealed that directors of House – Urban Splash House Holdings Group, whose entities include Urban Splash House Investments, Urban Splash House, Urban Splash Modular, Port Loop Holdings, Port Loop and Port Loop (Subco1), had appointed Teneo as administrators for the business.
House by Urban Splash is a joint venture between Urban Splash shareholders, Japanese modular firm Sekisui and Homes England. It has collapsed due to what is being described as “operational issues” relating to its factory in Alfreton in Derbyshire, resulting in 160 redundancies.
Adrian Berry, joint administrator, said: “This appointment follows various operational issues relating to the factory in Alfreton. We will now look to stabilise the US House Group by providing a platform to complete certain developments and explore sale options for the factory and the other development sites.
“We would like to thank all employees and other key stakeholders for their continued support.”
Peel L&P, the owner and operator of the multi-billion pound Wirral Waters scheme, has yet to comment on the latest developments but LBN understands the company is hopeful the modular homes project will continue.
As well as the scheme in Wirral Waters, House by Urban Splash has also created modular homes for sites in Port Loop in Birmingham, New Islington in Manchester and Grappenhall Woods in Warrington. Its most recent financial results, for the year to September 30, 202, reveal a £12.6m pre-tax loss.
Urban Splash acquired the modular arm of SIG for £1 in 2018. This deal included SIG’s factory in Alfreton and this led to the formation of House by Urban Splash. In 2020 Sekisui bought a stake in the business and most recently it held 48%, as did the Urban Splash shareholders. Homes England held the remaining 4%.
A statement from Urban Splash added: “The appointment of Teneo senior managing directors Adrian Berry and Daniel Smith to the company has no impact on the wider Urban Splash group or its operations, which continue to run successfully.
“The administrators will oversee completion and sale strategies for the company’s developments.”