Homes England moves to replace House by Urban Splash in Grappenhall 

A replacement development partner is to be appointed to deliver homes on a 30-acre site in Warrington after the collapse of the modular housing company. 

A Homes England spokesperson told Place North West: “We are committed to developing the Grappenhall site and we’re looking to begin marketing [it] by the end of the calendar year.” 

Homes England appointed House by Urban Splash as to deliver 228 modular homes at Grappenhall Woods in December 2020. 

Last year, Warrington Council granted planning approval for the residential project but earlier this year, House by Urban Splash, along with a series of connected companies, appointed administrators. 

The group’s administrators Teneo cited “various operational issues relating to the factory in Alfreton” as the reason for the collapse and 160 redundancies. 

The Grappenhall Woods project is part of a 49-acre scheme that secured outline permission for up to 400 houses in January 2018.  

Planning permission was awarded for the first two phases of the masterplan in March 2020. Rowland Homes is in the process of delivering those initial phases. 

Elsewhere, House by Urban Splash had also been appointed to deliver 30 modular homes at East Float, part of Peel L&P’s Wirral Waters regeneration project. 

Peel retook control of this element of the wider 347-home scheme in June. 

House by Urban Splash was a joint venture between Urban Splash shareholders, Japanese modular firm Sekisui and Homes England,  

The company de-merged from Tom Bloxham’s wider Urban Splash group in 2019. 

At the time of its collapse, Urban Splash shareholders and Sekisui House UK each held 48% equity. Homes England held the remaining 4%.