SME housebuilders flock to MukAway as network passes 1,300 sites

Three more housebuilders have signed up to MukAway, taking the materials re-use network past 1,300 sites.

Archway Homes, Westchurch Homes NW and Shanly Homes are the latest to join the platform, which matches sites with surplus soil and aggregates to sites nearby that need them.

The signings point to a growing trend. Small and medium-sized housebuilders are joining in numbers, and many are describing the decision in the same terms: a commercial no-brainer.

The reason is scale and volume. A national housebuilder can often balance material between its own sites. A smaller company with a handful of developments cannot do that effectively. On MukAway, that business' surplus has more than 1,300 sites to go to, and any shortfall has more than 1,300 sites to come from.

Fraser Linaker, chief executive of MA EnviroTech Group, said: "The smaller housebuilders feel muck-away costs more than anyone. Every load that goes to tip is money out of the job, and every load of material bought in is more on top.

"Put them on a network this size and the sums change. Their surplus becomes something another site wants, often just down the road. That is why we keep hearing the phrase commercial no-brainer, and why the sign-ups are not slowing down."

The numbers back that up. Five housebuilders recently re-signed with MukAway after saving more than £450,000 through the platform.

But cost is only part of the picture. Every movement is logged on MukAway's ESG dashboard, which gives each business a record of the material it has re-used, alongside the compliance paperwork for each load.

Ian Cheveau, marketing and sustainability director at MukAway, said: "We delivered a key note speech to the House Building Federation in the Spring and we were told then that most SME housebuilders want to do the right thing on sustainability. What they have lacked is the means to prove it. They don't have an ESG team sitting at head office.

"The dashboard does that job for them. It shows what has been re-used and where it went, in a form they can put in front of a planner, a funder or a land seller. The commercial case gets them through the door. The ESG evidence is what they did not expect to get with it."

Subscribers can also book haulage directly through the platform and buy aggregates, sand and fill through MukAway Merchant.

The three join a run of autumn signings that includes Anwyl North Wales, Bellway Homes North West, David Wilson Homes North West and Keepmoat North East.