Residential Construction Excellence: winner

Winner: Zed Pods

Our winner describes itself as “an environmentally led modular housing developer with a passion for creating 100 per cent affordable, net-zero-carbon housing solutions in difficult-to-develop, constrained sites like infills, flood zones, garages and hardstanding”.

“A fantastic SME, punching above its weight and driving the net-zero carbon agenda and modern methods of construction”

Judges’ comment

Despite its status as a young and small contractor, Zed Pods said it is “already influencing the way councils and housing associations think about their use of land and resources”, due to its unusual technique of building residential units on steel podiums above car-parking spaces, with minimal disruption and continuing availability of the parking spaces.

Its modular approach and offsite construction methods remove the need for deep foundations, reducing the need for heavy machinery. This helps to cut energy usage compared with traditional methods.

Between January 2020 and April 2021, Zed Pods completed a development for North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust as well as a social housing project for Bristol City Council, and began a scheme for Bromley Council in London.

The NHS scheme delivered 10 space-standard-compliant one-bedroom apartments, taken from concept to completion in around 13 weeks. The apartments now generate more energy than they consume.

The CN Awards judges said Zed Pods offers “an affordable and innovative housing solution to address the UK housing shortage” and labelled the firm “a fantastic SME, punching above its weight and driving the net-zero carbon agenda and modern methods of construction”.

Our judges were impressed with Zed Pods’ “unique solutions and unique product” and praised the outstanding “leadership, vision and direction provided by chairman Tom Northway”.