Modular housebuilder secures £70m investment

TOPHAT, the modular house builder, has raised £70 million from new and existing shareholders as the company draws closer to opening Europe’s largest modular housing factory, from which it will manufacture up to 4,000 ultra low-carbon homes a year.

In a major show of confidence in TopHat and the UK’s fast-growing modular housing sector, FTSE-100 housebuilder Persimmon and institutional investor Aviva, through its Aviva Capital Partners unit, have each made a substantial investment in the company.

Existing shareholders Goldman Sachs Asset Management also subscribed to TopHat’s latest fundraising round. Homes England, which has funded TopHat’s development at Kitchener Barracks in Chatham, continues to explore the potential for additional support as part of its ongoing commitment to the sector.

Persimmon aims to embrace the innovative manufacturing techniques used by TopHat to complement its existing Space4 timber frame product, drive further build efficiencies while expanding its product offering to customers and support moves to meet the Future Homes Standard.

Aviva Capital Partners, Aviva plc’s newly launched inhouse capital unit which originates infrastructure assets using Aviva group capital, has invested to bolster its sustainable community strategy.

This successful fundraise will help to cement TopHat’s leadership of the modular homebuilding sector. In addition to its current output of up to 800 homes a year from its first factory in Derby, it will begin production from its cuttingedge 650,000 square feet manufacturing facility in Corby, Northampton in 2024.

The new factory will employ 1,000 people, many of whom will be apprentices or employees entering the sector for the first time, working alongside the most advanced house building robots operating at scale in the UK.