Aviva invests £20m into low carbon housing manufacturer TopHat

Aviva Capital Partners (ACP), Aviva’s capital unit, is investing £20m into TopHat, a business manufacturing low carbon modular homes using Modern Methods of Construction (MMC). This equity funding will support TopHat’s major new factory in Corby, and the creation of 1,000 new jobs. The factory, anticipated to operate from summer 2024, will be capable of manufacturing 4,000 ultra-low carbon homes a year and will be Europe’s largest modular housing factory.

The construction of a TopHat home emits only 12% of the carbon compared to building a traditional home of the same size.  Air source heat pumps and high specification insulation ensures the houses are low-carbon, energy efficient and affordable homes to run.  With 27% of developers¹ stating they plan to build at least half their homes using MMC in the next three years, this method of construction is fuelling growth in the sector.

In 2025, compliance with the UK Government’s Future Homes Standard (FHS) will become mandatory. Its aim is to ensure that new homes built from 2025 will produce 75-80% less carbon emissions than homes built under the current Building Regulations. Reducing the UK housing stock’s operational emissions is also vital for the UK is to meet its legally binding net-zero targets. Energy use in homes currently makes up 22 percent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions² – more than double the amount from agriculture, and nearly as much as all transport emissions.

John Cummins, CEO, Aviva Capital Partners, said:

“Aviva is using its financial strength to invest in the sustainable infrastructure and real estate which are central to the UK’s net zero transition. TopHat is a pioneer of low-carbon homes and this investment will make sustainable housing more widely available, making a difference to communities and providing a retirement income for our customers.”

Jordan Rosenhaus, CEO and Founder at TopHat, said:

“Today’s announcement is testament to the innovative approach that TopHat continues to take to house- building and marks a step-change for the future of housing. It has been clear for some time that designing and building green, beautiful homes in factories is a critical part of solving the housing crisis – and today’s announcement will enable TopHat to reach the scale where the new generation of modular homes can be made available to everyone.”

-ENDS-

Sources

¹ CAST REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION CONSULTANCY; MMC market overview: A report on the UK MMC market for Aviva, 2nd February 2023.

² https://www.rics.org/news-insights/decarbonising-starts-at-home-with-energyfact-from-countrywide

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About Aviva Capital Partners

• Aviva Capital Partners (ACP) is Aviva’s in-house capital unit, launched in 2023, that will utilise the company’s financial strength to invest in a range of infrastructure projects and deliver returns for our retirement customers.
• These projects can provide great benefits to society – everything from the regeneration of towns and cities and social housing through to investment in green energy.
• ACP will take on a broader spectrum of risks where our equity can unlock larger scale assets.

About Aviva plc

• We are one of the UK’s leading Insurance, Wealth & Retirement businesses and we operate in the UK, Ireland and Canada. We also have international investments in India, China and Singapore.
• We help our 18.7 million customers make the most out of life, plan for the future, and have the confidence that if things go wrong we’ll be there to put it right.
• We have been taking care of people for more than 325 years, in line with our purpose of being ‘with you today, for a better tomorrow’. In 2022, we paid £23.2 billion in claims and benefits to our customers.
• Aviva is a market leader in sustainability. We have a goal to make 10 million people more resilient to climate, financial and health shocks between 2020 and 2025.

Find out more about our community goals and action at www.aviva.com/sustainability/communities

• The scale of our business gives us the ability to invest in community infrastructure and real estate, including healthcare, education, transport, housing, water and renewable energy. In 2023 we announced a goal to invest £25 billion over the next ten years into UK infrastructure and real estate.  
• Aviva is a Living Wage, Living Pensions and Living Hours employer and provides market-leading benefits for our people, including flexible working, paid carers leave and equal parental leave. Find out more at https://www.aviva.com/about-us/our-people/
• In 2021, we announced our plan to become Net Zero by 2040, the first major insurance company in the world to do so. This plan means Net Zero carbon emissions from our investments by 2040; setting out a clear pathway to get there with a cut of 25% in the carbon intensity of our investments by 2025 and of 60% by 2030; and Net Zero carbon emissions from our own operations and supply chain by 2030.  Find out more about our climate goals at www.aviva.com/climate-goals and our sustainability ambition and action at www.aviva.com/sustainability
• While we are working towards our sustainability ambitions, we acknowledge that we have relationships with businesses and existing assets that may be associated with significant emissions. More information can be found at https://www.aviva.com/sustainability/climate/
• As at 31 December 2022, total Group assets under management at Aviva Group were £352 billion and our estimated Solvency II shareholder surplus is £8.7 billion. Our shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange and we are a member of the FTSE 100 index.
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About TopHat Enterprises

• TopHat is a privately owned business. The business was founded in 2016 by CEO Jordan Rosenhaus and architect and Chief Design Officer Krishan Pattni and is one of the UK’s leading 3D modular housebuilders.  
• TopHat currently employs almost 300 people and can produce over two beautiful new homes per day from its existing facility at Foston in Derby.   
• TopHat’s homes are the greenest new homes being built at scale in the UK today. Low carbon to build, with air source heat pumps and high specification insulation ensuring that they are also low-carbon, low-energy and low-cost to run. 
• Our proprietary technology platform, advanced robotics and innovative patented facade combine to create endless design possibilities without the high cost and loss of efficiency that are often associated with bespoke designs.  
• The new manufacturing facility at 650,000 sq ft will be the size of 11 football pitches and will be able to produce 16 houses a day at the rate of about one house per hour. The new facility will be built to “BREEAM Excellent” standard.