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Managing director of modular house builder TopHat reveals departure
The managing director of modular house builder TopHat is leaving the business at the end of this week.
Andrew Shepherd had been in post at the Goldman Sachs-backed builder since October 2020.
Writing on Linkedin, Mr Shepherd said he was “moving on to a new challenge” after a “roller coaster near-four years in the world of modular housebuilding”.
He continued: “I wish my colleagues all the best moving forward and would like to express my personal gratitude for all their hard work and dedication.
“The team has achieved so much under some, let’s be honest, challenging circumstances.”
A spokesperson for TopHat said Mr Shepherd’s departure was connected to “personnel losses” amid a “period of restructuring”.
They said: “2023 was a challenging period for the housing sector at large, where a tough inflationary climate coincided with supply chain disruption. And, as a newer industry, MMC has been hit harder still.
“Despite the growing understanding that volumetric modular is a key part of the solution to the housing crisis, we can’t yet see signs of the market coming back and have needed to take prudent action to ensure the business remains healthy, protected, and ready for the upturn when it comes.
“This has meant some scaling back, and some personnel losses in this period of restructuring.”
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The news came after the business told staff in March that it planned to make around 70 redundancies to cut costs amid “challenging” market conditions.
The volumetric developer, which posted a £20.4m pre-tax loss for the year to 31 October 2022, has plans to increase its capacity to 4,500 homes.
It was planning to open a second factory, a 650,000 sq ft facility in Corby, Northamptonshire, this year to scale up activity and turn a profit for the first time.
However, it was reported in March that the Corby factory plans were indefinitely “on ice” and every member of the Corby team had been laid off.
Last year TopHat attracted £70m investment from Persimmon, Aviva and Goldman Sachs, while in November Homes England provided a £15m loan facility to help fund its expansion.
When its recent round of redundancies was announced, TopHat said: “The changes are a prudent step to ensure the business maintains current delivery levels during 2024 and is well positioned for growth as the market returns.
“The medium and long-term need for volumetric modular homes is becoming ever clearer as traditional build capacity is constrained by the growing skills shortage. While cost-cutting is always tough, these changes will put TopHat in pole position for growth when demand rebounds.”
TopHat is one of the last remaining Category 1 modular house builders in the UK, after the closure of Legal & General Modular Homes and Ilke Homes in 2023.
Unlike Ilke – which used a land-led delivery model whereby it bought land, secured planning permission and developed the site – TopHat only sells houses to third parties.
About a third of its output is bought by housing associations, another third by developers and the final third by build-to-rent providers.
Carl Leaver, chair of TopHat, told a Lords committee in October that there was “zero chance” of the government’s 300,000 homes a year target being hit without modular housing.
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