Hedge fund stalwart, Lord Stanley Fink, has made a GBP3 million investment in UK-based turnkey homes specialist, Project Etopia.
Project Etopia creates turn-key properties that combine passive design, affordability, renewable energy generation, intelligent heating and cooling systems and smart home technology.
The cash injection from former Conservative Party Treasurer Lord Fink – currently Chairman of investment manager ISAM Europe – will help the company scale up its operations and market share over the next two years. It comes as councils increasingly turn to turnkey building to rapidly boost stock levels of quality homes at drastically lower cost than traditional bricks and mortar.
Project Etopia’s houses all incorporate smart technology, mechanical ventilation, heat recovery, air purification, daylight mimicry lighting, and solar power as standard.
They are ‘passively designed’ buildings, which means they need little heating or cooling by design. Project Etopia classifies its homes as ‘Energy +’ – the firm’s own standard in passive design, combining affordability, energy generation and specialist heating and cooling systems.
The company, with headquarters in Cambridge, was founded in 2015 by Essex-based entrepreneur Joseph Daniels. It manufactures its turnkey systems in Tiverton, Devon, and since inception has formed partnerships with construction industry giants such as Daikin and Mitie.
It takes Project Etopia just four weeks to construct a new home from start to finish using its panel building system. Project Etopia also specialises in building similarly-equipped but bespoke turnkey school buildings.
Project Etopia has just completed a UK first for its turnkey Energy + affordable smart school system with Mitie at Brightlingsea in Essex. The development incorporates its panel system alongside Daikin heating and ventilation plus key technologies applied to its residential model such as energy storage, energy generation, daylight mimicry lighting, wireless audio and intelligent building controls.
The building of turnkey schools comes at a crucial time with population rises putting an ever greater strain on places, with past studies revealing 1-in-5 primary schools were over capacity.
The potential for turnkey homes to ease the housing crisis also presents a significant opportunity for the company.
Home ownership among 25 to 34-year-olds earning between GBP22,200 and GBP30,600 collapsed from 65 per cent in 1996 to just to 27 per cent in 2016, according to research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)3. Land Registry data shows that the average UK house price has increased 25 per cent in a decade, reaching GBP228,384 in June 2018.
ONS data predicts that the UK population will increase by 3.6 million (5.5 per cent) in the next 10 years, reaching 70 million by 2029 and threatening to make the imbalance between housing supply and demand even more critical.
Lord Stanley Fink, Director, British Pearl, commented: “My affection for UK property investments is no secret and, given the current state of the housing crisis, I see a brighter future for first-time buyers if they are able to buy high-quality turnkey houses that offer technology that is relatively rare even in modern new-build developments.”
“Project Etopia is a novel, credible, affordable and environmentally friendly way to provide starter homes for young people. Short build times, truly desirable houses and a broken housing market are three good reasons why Project Etopia has a colossal opportunity to deliver a lasting social impact.
“Generations of Britons are frankly desperate to get onto the housing ladder and I’m convinced these types of developments are going to play a central role in making that dream a reality for millions.”
Joseph Daniels, CEO of Project Etopia, commented: “I feel so passionately about this business because so many young people are being forced to accept that it’s unlikely they will ever own their own home.”
“Traditionally, affordable housing has gone hand-in-hand with low quality housing. We are going to be burying that preconception with homes that are truly ‘des res’ for aspiring professionals and families.”
“We’re going to lead the way in providing state-of-the-art housing for a reasonable price tag, while continuing to develop our technology to make each project superior by design and with ever shorter build times.”
