Abri Homes building high-quality, low-carbon homes with i-House
Homes England strategic partner Abri Homes has an ambition to be one of the largest housing associations in the country, building high-quality, low-carbon homes at scale.
In one of Abri’s latest and largest developments, the company has chosen i-House as the system to deliver Category 2 MMC homes fast and efficiently.
As a Homes England partner, Abri Homes is committed to delivering 25% of its new build homes with MMC solutions. Jake Snell, Head of Partnerships and Innovation, is responsible for taking his organisation on its MMC journey, which he admits requires “an educational and cultural shift into thinking differently.”
Having reviewed a range of MMC options for this site, including Category One prefabricated units, Abri settled on i-House as a “game changer”.
“It’s so simple in form but so advanced at the same time. After seeing it on site, I walked into a meeting with my construction manager and he loved it too, as a radical advance on traditional building.”
For Abri’s in-house construction team it’s the combination of using a familiar material in an entirely new way that is so exciting. The full height aircrete panels provide the consistent quality and speed of installation that is the fundamental appeal of MMC.
“We anticipate that using i-House should increase speed of delivery and reduce the build programme by 3-6 months.” Jake continues. The completion rate of new homes is hugely increased by the speed at which a watertight shell is created. The weatherproof structure of a standard design house can be completed in less than a week on site, allowing the interior trades to work simultaneously with the construction of the brick façade.
With an eye to the future, Abri is also looking for solutions that hit increasingly stringent sustainability objectives.
“As a group we know that to hit our net zero carbon targets we have to look at all the options to get there. We will never achieve carbon targets if we continue to build traditionally. We must innovate and use different solutions. The i-House is significantly better than standard brick and block: not only is the amount of waste significantly reduced but the product itself has better credentials, so it supports us on our sustainability journey.”
Also attractive for Abri is the flexibility of the aircrete material in use. It can be cut on site, allowing for last-minute changes and the ability to incorporate less than standard house design.
The site currently under construction is in Botley, incorporating 116 units of low-rise mixed-tenure housing, delivered by the in-house construction team. While the first 50 homes will be traditional build, phase 2, which started on site in October 2024, will be i-House.
All of the homes will be built with very low energy requirements. The external walls will have a u-Value of 0.18 W/m2K, ensuring a fabric-first approach to energy efficiency. Air source heat pumps and photovoltaic panels will be included and some of the houses will also be experimenting with battery storage to take the homes from being Net Zero ready to being Net Zero in use.
It’s definitely part of the Abri plan to deliver better quality homes faster, and i-House has the potential to be a big part of that plan. “I can see i-House being a standard method of build for our low-rise housing, but of course we need proof of concept first – to prove to ourselves that the system is as good as it promises to be.”
