Homes factory plan

A GOLDMAN Sachs-backed developer has outlined plans to build Europe’s largest modular housing factory capable of producing 4,000 homes a year.

TopHat, which is 70pc owned by the US bank, said the factory based in Corby, Northamptonshire, should be completed next year. The site will use modern methods of construction, or MMC, to assemble rooms, units or homes to scale before moving them to sites.

TopHat said it is still two years away from becoming profitable, but it has already set up a factory in derby which can produce 800 homes a year.