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East Midlands contractor in talks with potential buyers for social housing arm
An East Midlands contractor is in talks with potential buyers for its struggling social housing arm, Inside Housing can reveal.
Derby-based Hodgkinson Builders filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator at its social housebuilding division last week, citing a lack of government support for small subcontractors.
However, a spokesperson for the firm told Inside Housing that it had been approached by a number of parties who have expressed an interest in taking on the embattled social housing business, adding it was “hopeful of a positive outcome”.
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The construction firm featured in a BBC documentary series called Brickies, which ran from 2022-23. Ian Hodgkinson, the firm’s founder and managing director, is also a project manager on BBC One’s DIY SOS.
The firm had delivered 500 affordable homes for various registered providers, including Platform Housing Group, Stonewater, EMH Group, Jigsaw and Honeycomb Group.
In August 2023, it began work on its biggest scheme yet, a £12.7m, 67-home project in Chesterton, Staffordshire, for Your Housing. The scheme was expected to complete by 2025.
Hodgkinson Builders was founded in 1990 as a small bricklaying business specialising in commercial projects, before entering the new build and affordable housing spaces.
In July 2022, it launched Hodgkinson Homes, a division to sell its new homes on the open market.
Its commercial brickwork division will remain in operation.
A spokesperson for Hodgkinson Builders told Inside Housing: “Due to the construction inflation over the last few years, the rising cost of living and the resulting financial pressures on construction businesses such as ourselves, we have taken the very difficult decision to close our social housebuilding division.
“We have taken this difficult decision before more costs are accrued from the subcontractors and suppliers, who we value most highly.
“But there is potential good news on the horizon – as we have since been approached by a number of parties who have expressed an interest in taking on the social housing business. Negotiations are currently underway and so we are hopeful of a positive outcome for all concerned.
“In terms of our own challenges, despite the previous government directives for housing associations to engage smaller contractors and developers, there has been a clear lack of support for such contractors in practice, and the current situation has impacted us and those we work with massively.
“We want to emphasise that the Hodgkinson contracting brickwork division remains completely separate and unaffected by our social housing decision. Business operations in that division will continue as usual.”
Inside Housing approached Your Housing for more detail on what will happen to the Staffordshire scheme.
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