Developer, builder, offsite manufacturer and property maintenance business – Osborne – has repositioned itself to take advantage of the zero-carbon agenda by leveraging its in-house offsite manufacturing and low-carbon design expertise. The Osborne group of businesses are now aligned in a common purpose and collaborating to create low-carbon solutions with offsite products designed to support their customers in achieving their sustainability commitments.
Osborne formally submitted financial accounts for the year ending September 2021, showing a position of £0.7m. With an end of year net cash of £21.5m, this improvement means that Osborne can move forward with confidence.
The Osborne 2016 Group Business Plan set out to grow and prepare Obsorne’s infrastructure business for sale. The sale was completed in September 2021, allowing the company to concentrate on its remaining businesses. The timing of the infrastructure sale assisted in offsetting the losses from a small number of construction projects in London, which have now been completed. The sale also enabled the business to invest in creating more of its own developments and secure some long-term opportunities.
“I am delighted with the progress being made in transforming the Osborne business and I am confident that we will continue to increase our profitability through the application of our in-house expertise in low carbon design, offsite manufacturing and delivery, along with increasing volumes of self-build development opportunities.”
Dave Smith, Group Chief Executive, Osborne
The Osborne Developments business has entered into a £250m investment joint venture with PGIM to deliver and operate new Build to Rent homes; homes that are being self-built by Osborne. The business also recently announced a trio of new hires to support the company’s expansion into both the purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) and Build to Rent sectors.
Offsite business Innovaré has invested in new plant and equipment and has broadened its factory-built product offering. Innovaré is a panel member in LHC’s NH2 Framework for the offsite construction of new homes and a partner to a main contractor panel member for the Department for Education (DfE) MMC1 Framework for schools. Innovaré has grown its partnerships with main contractors and is increasing the scope of work undertaken within the factory to include cladding and windows. This increased scope is removing programme and safety risks typical of traditional on-site activities.
It is anticipated that the Osborne Property Services business will grow to become one of the largest businesses in the Group. Property Services has been appointed to the GLA Retrofit Innovation Partnership and programmes are already in progress for two London boroughs. The Innovation Partnership is anticipated to be worth £4bn, with Osborne currently one of four supplier partners.
Winchester City Council has awarded Osborne Property Services a five-year housing maintenance contract extension for responsive repairs and void management. The contract also makes further provision to include zero-carbon housing retrofit schemes.
The Construction business is still in the process of rebuilding but has won places on several public sector frameworks. These include the DfE Construction Framework, secured using the Osborne ‘InForm’ offsite school build solution, and the Sustainable Housing Development Framework. The latter adopts the ‘Flexihomes’ low-carbon offsite housing solution, manufactured in Innovaré’s factory in Coventry. Construction has also secured places on the London Construction Framework, City of London Framework and London Borough of Islington Framework.
“As we embark on this next phase of our business plan to 2025/26, I also recognise that the industry faces the significant external challenges of escalating inflation, and economic and political uncertainty. My priorities, above all else will be the safety and wellbeing of people working on and impacted by our projects, delivering the promises we make to our customers and investors and carefully managing risks that balance business resilience with the speed of growth.
“I anticipate that with our unique positioning and offerings in our key markets we will see revenues return to, and exceed, the levels achieved prior to the sale of Infrastructure. I am really excited by the huge opportunity in front of us as we continue our journey to providing a zero-carbon future for our customers.”
Dave Smith, Group Chief Executive, Osborne
