Despite the £30m loan from Homes England in 2019, modular housebuilder Ilke has started a redundancy program due to the high number of contract delays following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ilke employs over 600 people and although it has not been confirmed how many people are at risk of losing their job, it is understood that more than 100 employees are in a redundancy consultation.
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Executive Chairman, Dave Sheridan said that the actions to reduce the number of employees was an effect of trying to cope with the delays to their existing orders and the downturn of the market in the wake of the pandemic.
The decision comes weeks after the company opened three new offices in London, Bristol and Berkeley and Sheridan said “Unfortunately, Covid-19 is forcing us to make some incredibly hard decisions right now to deal with delays to existing orders and a slow market. Our ability to fulfill client orders is unaffected and we have a strong pipeline, albeit we are having to work with clients to manage the impact on their own businesses.”
Ilke aren´t the only housebuilders who are having the scale back on their workforce. Berkeley Group is also said to be making staff redundant while Crest Nicholson has said that it will be laying off 130 staff.
Whilst modular housing and other modern methods of construction are on the up and are being promoted by the government as a way to meet the housing demand, these recent developments are showing that it´s not just traditional housebuilders who are suffering the effects of the pandemic, and the future is an uncertain road for many in either sector, traditional or modern.
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