St Nectan’s Close / Giroscope

Empowering community-based housing delivery through Modern Methods of Construction

Giroscope is a Hull-based housing charity that has spent more than 40 years pioneering self-help housing, bringing long-term empty properties back into use to provide secure, affordable homes. Their approach combines renovation with training, employment, and volunteering, with many participants going on to live in the spaces they create.

Since 2021, we’ve been working with Giroscope to extend this model beyond retrofit into new-build and extension projects, exploring how our digitally manufactured timber system could support the delivery of high-quality, sustainable homes while strengthening local skills and employment. 

St Nectan’s Close is a pilot project that applied this approach to extend two properties that had stood vacant for over 20 years.

Giroscope staff and volunteers received hands-on training in Modern Methods of Construction, working as a team to assemble and insulate cassettes at the BlokBuild factory before transporting them just a couple of miles down the road to install on-site. The project demonstrates how localised off-site manufacture can support community-led housing delivery while improving build quality and environmental performance.

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