Here are SO Modular, we are delighted to unveil our new biomass boiler at our headquarters, the result of a significant investment but one which moves use closer to becoming completely self sufficient in terms of our energy and our production process.

The cutting edge biomass boiler was installed by energy specialist Novalux Energy. It is fuelled by our offcuts and wood shavings, a natural biproduct of the production process and will re-use 90% of the fuel into usable heat.

It works by burning the fuel at high temperatures to produce heat, or thermal energy. This thermal energy is transferred to a heat exchanger which provides you with heat for space or processes. The technology also utilises carbon filters to filter out impurities in its emissions to ensure they are not harmful to the local environment.

We were delighted to welcome the Economy Minister and Senedd Member, Vaughan Gething, to SO Modular’s new state-of-the-art, off-site manufacturing facility, located at the ‘Old Metal Box’ factory in Neath.

Mr Gething was given a guided tour around the new facility, ahead of its grand opening later in the year. During his visit, we showed him our latest investment in new equipment and explained our plans for the site – where we will be producing our sustainable, innovative, modular wood panel systems and roof trusses for use in the wider construction industry.

The regeneration of the ‘Old Metal Box’ factory into our new facility has been made possible due to a substantial £900,000 Property Business Development Gran through the European Regional Development Fundt.In addition, loan funding support worth over £2.85 million, provided through the Welsh Government’s Innovative Housing Programme (IHP) to Tai Tarian Housing Association, has facilitated further investment in plant and machinery to increase our capacity.

We have increased our production capacity by 700% thanks to our significant six-figure investment in new machinery at our new 350,000 sqft timber and modular manufacturing facility in Neath, South Wales.

The development of the facility began in April 2020 and is set for an official launch at the end of summer 2021. Once completed, with all the new machinery installed and running, the site will immediately be able to expand from its current production capacity of 500 homes per year to 3,500 homes per year on a single shift.

The timber and modular manufacturing facility will also be a zero-carbon, sustainable site, creating a number of skilled employment opportunities in the local area.

We have been able to fund the purchase of our new machinery through an Innovative Housing Programme (IHP) loan with Tai Tarian – one of the largest social landlords in Wales.

The new machinery is considerably more efficient – both in terms of speed and energy usage – than that currently being used. It will also produce less waste and will contribute towards us sustainably manufacturing low carbon homes.

The new machinery includes a treatment tank, Production Lines, a biomass boiler, a Hundegger TURBO-Drive II Saw, a vertical saw and a factory blow insulation machine.

The Hundegger TURBO-Drive II Saw will speed up timber processes, increase accuracy and reduce waste with the use of computer software technology. The saw’s optimisation software means that any offcuts it produces are automatically cut into smaller standardised pieces, which can then be used as other functional aspects of modular joist and cassette manufacture.

The biomass boiler will ensure waste timber is used to reheat the facilities, and avoid it being transported to landfill for disposal. As well as heating the factory and offices, the boiler is also used to dry treated timber in our new in-house treatment tank, helping us reduce our fuel costs and aiding us in our goal to create a sustainable, renewable process for timber frame manufacturing.