St Saviour's Hospital site to be redeveloped by Andium Homes

The government-owned social housing provider, Andium Homes, has been chosen to redevelop the old St Saviour's Hospital site.

In one of two letters written to Andium and the Jersey Development Company - which is also owned by the government - Jersey's Chief Minister, Deputy Kristina Moore, says she expects the developer to use "Modern Methods of Construction" as part of the building process.

What are Modern Methods of Construction (MMC)?

MMC is a building process whereby the structural units of a building are made off-site and then put together on-site.

It is a more efficient method as it takes up less time and is less labour-intensive.

In April, former Ministers, John Le Fondré and Russell Labey visited Poland to see how Jersey could use MMC as a solution to the island's housing problems.

They met with Unihouse, a manufacturer which produces flatpack panels at the company's factories before transporting them to construction sites across Europe.

The company uses MMC to build family homes in less than 24 hours, and now Jersey is looking to adopt similar methods to rapidly generate more housing.

In her second letter, the Chief Minister explained how the Jersey Development Company has committed to adopting MMC as part of the regeneration of South Hill.

Plans for the development have been scaled down, but it is hoped that MMC will speed up the construction of affordable housing.

Jersey's Housing Minister, Deputy David Warr, recently published a report outlining plans to create homes using MMC as part of the government's 100-Day Plan.

He says the adoption of MMC will help developers "deliver much-needed new homes more quickly and efficiently":

"The construction industry is already doing excellent, innovative work and it’s important we continue to look at new ways of working and technologies, and that we do this in partnership with our States-owned entities and the wider construction sector.”