A new factory will be built to double a housebuilder's capacity.

Construction company Boutique Modern will start building the facility in Avis Way, Newhaven, this year after getting the green light from Lewes District Council.

The business specialises in delivering sustainable homes for affordable and social housing schemes in the South East.

The factory has been designed by award-winning Brighton architects Morgan Carn and will feature a two-storey industrial building to be used to manufacture offsite modular housing units.

Boutique Modern currently employs more than 70 people but has outgrown its current site in Beach Road. The new factory will take its headcount to more than 100 employees.

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The empty disused site was previously occupied by a large workshop, store and office building that was demolished in 2021 and the space is currently used by Boutique Modern for the temporary storage of off-site housing modules.

Dick Shone, managing director at Boutique Modern, said: “This is an exciting new chapter for Boutique Modern, which will mean more homes and jobs for local people.

“This will prepare us for the next exciting phase when we open satellite factories in other areas with housing demand. Each new factory will create upwards of 100 new jobs and generate more than £20m for the local economy per year, per facility.”

At full capacity the factory will be capable of producing up to 125 houses or 250 flats per year, while maintaining flexibility in its output to manage market peaks and troughs.

“The Boutique Modern business model has been developed over more than ten years to allow us to open satellite factories in locations where there is housing demand,” Mr Shone said.

“Instead of growing one large factory capable of producing thousands of homes in a single location, the Avis Way Factory will allow us the opportunity to pilot setting up in a new facility with our existing processes and systems before we expand to other sites, thereby enabling the sustainable growth of our business.”

The new factory will feature solar panels to provide on-site power generation for lighting and power tools, feeding energy back into the grid when not required on site.

It will also include electric vehicle charging points and more than 30 covered cycle spaces for employees to cycle to work, together with trees and plants to improve the look of the site.