Lovell Partnerships has secured a £53m contract to rebuild the Southend housing development abandoned following the collapse of modular housebuilder Ilke Homes.

The Guinness Partnership was forced to demolish the partially completed 131-home Meadow Grange scheme after inspections found the modular homes could not be salvaged. Construction was halted when Ilke Homes entered administration in June 2023.

Lovell will now deliver an entirely new development, with work due to begin on 7 August and completion expected in November 2028.

Ilke started construction on the affordable housing scheme in November 2022 using its factory-built timber system, but work came to a standstill less than a year later.

Further investigations revealed that the unfinished homes failed to meet regulatory and fire safety requirements, leaving Guinness with little choice but to demolish the development and begin again.

Thirty-two partially completed homes were stripped back to slab level to allow the site to be cleared.

The abandoned scheme became a prominent example of the modular housebuilder’s collapse, with weather-damaged structures and broken scaffolding remaining on site for more than a year while Guinness searched for a new contractor.

The replacement contract includes the design and construction of 221 affordable homes, as well as associated infrastructure, external works and defects rectification.

Lovell is set to begin work at the Fossetts Way site next month.