Starship to deliver first factory-built Zero Carbon affordable homes at site of Wirral blast

Property Development Group Starship is launching its first zero-carbon affordable homes on the Wirral which will be built at its off-site manufacturing facility in Deeside.

These first three zero-carbon homes will provide over 105 M² of modern, affordable living space which will be installed in as little as 7 days ready for internal fit-out.

Starship’s unique panelised model means that a new home can be delivered and installed anywhere where a refuse collection vehicle can fit, with no special arrangements or unnecessary disruption to the community. Their focus on driving local enterprise means that local contractors are used to provide internal fit-out and finishing works meaning that maximum economic impact is delivered locally.

This development is being completed in New Ferry in Wirral at a site that was rocked by the 2017 explosion of a commercial property which devastated the immediate community and is one of the first regeneration projects in the area. Starship has agreed a deal with a registered provider to acquire these homes and are working with other providers and private investors to deliver more of these innovative affordable homes.

Dave Dargan, Director of Starship commented, “We are delighted to be delivering these innovative low carbon homes in a community that has seen some significant challenges over the past 5 years. To be bringing such an exciting project to the area is fantastic and creating a real buzz. These spacious homes will have the lowest running costs of any property in the immediate area and are delivering more affordable living for local people.

Our homes are hand-built in our manufacturing centres and finished by local contractors so each and every home we deliver creates real jobs and real local opportunities for people”

birkenhead.news spoke to Karl Ventre who is a Founder Director of Starship Group about the New Ferry development, following the explosion that devastated the area in 2017. “I was near the blast when it happened, so to be a part of the green shoots of the regeneration is fantastic, especially with such a modern solution for new-builds.”, he said.

The houses are built off-site at their factory in Deeside and the houses assembled on-site from these premade components. “These buildings are not at all like wartime prefabs – they’re built with the highest quality products available on the market and are built with longevity in mind.”, he said of the innovative way in which the properties are constructed. The properties will be extremely energy efficient; “The homes will be highly insulated and will be draught-free” Karl said that the buildings will be the first zero-carbon residential properties built on Wirral. “The way we will achieve that is through using triple-glazed windows, a really good air-tight draught-free build, solar panels on the roof and there won’t be gas-powered boilers (Sales of new gas boilers are due to be banned globally from 2025.) – so we’ve really future-proofed the design.”

From putting the first spade in the ground until the houses are ready to move into is about 12-14 weeks – about half the time it takes to construct a traditionally built house. Just because the houses are built in less time than traditional houses doesn’t mean they lack quality, “Everything we use is very high quality and there’s a lot of space-age technology! We have an NHBC warranty for these buildings which is the absolute gold standard of construction warrantees. These buildings have been scrutinised for quality control every inch of the way.”, Karl explained. “To achieve this warranty standard, we have to use very high-quality products and build to very high standards.”

Karl was especially proud of putting something back into the community, not only by producing high standard affordable homes for people to live in but also by employing local people. “There are different skills used [in this construction, compared to traditional builds]; the people building this project might have been struggling to look for work, but we have trained them and provided them the skill-set they need in the future of the construction industry.”

Starship Group was formed in 2020 following the acquisition and merger of several existing property development and construction businesses and is backed by a private investment fund. The newly branded group has previously built over £75m of residential projects across the North West, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire. The group already has over £30m of developments in progress with a further £50m in negotiation In addition to its core property development activities Starship is investing in cutting edge modern construction methods to meet the UK’s growing housing demand. In 2020 Starship launched its first manufacturing facility in Deeside which is the first of a number of planned manufacturing centres that will open across 2021/22.

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