Southwater

Ordering a factory-built house was a no-brainer for Pete, given his background in manufacturing.  As a VP in supply chain strategy, he values quality products that are supplied on time and on budget. The idea of skipping all the time-consuming, tortuous and messy processes of normal building, and having a near-finished house delivered straight to his plot instead, was irresistible.  His wife Aey, a ceramicist, agreed - so long as their new home could be beautiful and spacious enough for their two kids Alice and Joe. So they contracted an architectural practice who specialise in ambitious eco-modular home production, and selected one of their factories in Wales to assemble their super sustainable structures using local Douglas fir trees. Surely nothing could go wrong. 

  

However, there proves to be two big hurdles. Firstly, the bats. Their new home must replace a jaded bungalow, but a survey has found possible furry inhabitants. To demolish it and get on with groundworks they must wait for hibernation season to end and gain vital ecology permission. But, with the factory already going full steam ahead and just 7 weeks before delivery, the bat licence still hasn’t arrived. Then there’s the challenge of transporting the 5 gigantic modules – up to 12m long, 4.2m wide, and 4m high – from Wales to their rural West Sussex plot, down tiny lanes. And even if they can get there, will the plot actually be ready?