Persimmon invests in TopHat

The York-headquartered housebuilding giant has committed £25m to the modular homes specialist as part of a £70m funding round also including Aviva Capital Partners.

Persimmon said that the investment will establish a strategic partnership between the two businesses and provide guaranteed access to “both TopHat’s innovative brick façade product as well as its highly energy efficient modular homes”.

TopHat’s products are complementary to Persimmon’s existing Space4 timber frame housing system.

The £70m funding round from existing and new investors also includes £20m from Aviva Capital Partners, the group’s newly launched in-house capital unit which originates infrastructure assets using Aviva group capital.

In addition to its existing facility in Derby, TopHat is due to open Europe’s largest modular housing factory in Corby, Northamptonshire, with a capacity of 4,000 homes a year, in 2024.

Dean Finch, group chief executive of Persimmon, said: “Persimmon is delighted to announce this partnership with TopHat, which brings together the skills of the country’s most innovative modular homes manufacturer with those of the UK’s most cost-effective volume house builder.

“Our partnership will provide Persimmon with guaranteed access to TopHat’s highly energy-efficient volumetric modular homes and its innovative brick façade system, which has significant potential within our own Space4 timber frame business.

“This new relationship will help support our future volume growth, provide further build efficiencies, help address the growing challenge of labour shortages in key trades and give us access to TopHat’s leading-edge green technologies.

“The combination of our complementary industry-leading capabilities with significant new investment will create many exciting opportunities for both businesses in the years ahead.”

The deal follows further activity in the modular sector last week, when fellow York business Portakabin acquired Darwin Group. a specialist in the healthcare market.