Meadow Grange: The MMC Reality Check | Anthony Boden & Glyn Halksworth

On Fossetts Way in Southend, a vision for modern, factory-built housing nearly became a cautionary tale when the original MMC contractor, Ilke Homes, went into administration — leaving a site in limbo and around a dozen almost complete homes that had to be demolished. In this episode, Toby Fox is joined by Anthony Boden (Lovell Partnerships) and Glyn Halksworth (Southend-on-Sea City Council) to discuss how the 221-home, 100% affordable scheme was rescued, how it's evolved, and the hard lessons learned about when — and how — to trust Modern Methods of Construction. Timestamps / Chapters 00:00 – Introduction: Fossetts Way’s MMC Rescue 00:39 – Toby Fox: What Works and What Needs to Change 00:52 – Anthony Boden: Inheriting a Stalled Site 01:11 – What Went Wrong: Volumetric MMC and a Lost Supply Chain 02:18 – The PCSA: A Year Assessing What Could Be Reused 02:56 – Why Lovell Chose a Timber Frame System Instead 03:37 – Glyn Halksworth: 221 Homes, 100% Affordable 03:54 – When Ilke Homes Went into Administration 04:40 – The Dozen Homes That Had to Be Demolished 05:47 – The Cost to Confidence: Residents, Buyers and the Council 06:49 – Back on Site, Still MMC: What’s Different This Time? 08:03 – Why Volumetric MMC Factories Failed 09:52 – Not All of Fossetts Way Is Modular 10:22 – How Anthony Vets a Modular Supplier’s Pitch 11:48 – MMC Isn’t the Problem — The Business Model Is 13:16 – Why Anthony Prefers Components Over Full Volumetric Modules 14:42 – Testing the Ground: Months of Surveys Before Building Again 15:50 – What Gives the Council Confidence to Deliver This Time? 16:18 – The Real Lesson: Resilience, Governance and Supply Chain Certainty #southendonsea #housingdelivery #regeneration