Housebuilder Bellway is giving prospective homeowners the chance to learn more about how their property is built.
The Newcastle-based developer is launching an initiative on each of its new sites which will give visitors a look behind the walls of a Bellway house - showing the component parts of the property including insulations, wiring and frames. Its 'House to Home' properties will demonstrate all the materials used in construction, and help buyers understand some of the building processes used.
Bellway says it is also keen to show off the environmentally friendly features built in to its homes, as well as deliver interesting facts to about their make-up. For example, the firm says its average home has 820m of electrical wiring, more than length of 16 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
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Frank Lincoln, group construction director for Bellway, has led the initiative, which was delivered through Bellway’s East Midlands Division.
He said: “House to Home is a way of educating our customers so they can better understand the processes and complexities involved in building their new home. We will also invite schools, colleges and other interested groups to visit so they can take the opportunity to learn about careers in construction. The House to Home plots take visitors on a journey through the build process.
"On the ground floor, everything is at first fix stage, meaning features such as piping, wiring and blockwork are still visible. There are also viewing points showing insulation behind the walls.
"Upstairs, the different plastering stages can be viewed as we demonstrate how the home looks at second fix. This enables us to explain features such as no-drill zones in the walls that homebuyers will need to be aware of. We’ve had some incredibly positive feedback from visitors so far and look forward to expanding the initiative across our developments in England, Scotland and Wales.”
Most of the House to Home plots are paired with a show home of the same design so visitors can then see how the finished home looks. The initiative will be rolled out across all of the developers new sites in the coming months.
In June, Bellway reported it had seen demand drop on the back of higher mortgage rates, though it insisted there were signs of improvement. In a trading update on the London Stock Exchange, for the period before February and June, the developer said reservations were substantially down on the same period of 2022.
The FTSE250 firm's cancellation rate also increased to 15% from 12%. Investors were told Bellway was working with a significantly smaller order book of £1.7bn, down from £2.4bn - with further reductions likely this year.
