A pioneering York business has welcomed government support for factory-built housing.

Both Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and housing and planning minister Jeff Rooker have backed off-site manufacturing methods for building more affordable houses in Britain.

York-based Yorkshire Housing Group was behind the Poplar Tree Gardens apartments in Sixth Avenue, Tang Hall, York, which were the first factory-built homes outside of London.

The £2.2 million initiative has won national recognition for excellence in design with two major awards.

Manufactured by Yorkon, a subsidiary of York-based Portakabin, the 24 apartments have been voted the best Housing Association Development in the country by the National Homebuilder Design Awards.

The scheme, which was completed in partnership with City of York Council, has also been presented with a prestigious Civic Trust Award Commendation, which recognises excellence in architecture.

The four-storey block in Tang Hall was built using modular technology which enables the apartments to be pre-built inside a factory and then assembled on site.

This technology has been supported by Mr Prescott, who wants it to be used more to enable him to achieve his target of building 200,000 new homes in the south-east.

Mr Rooker said that modern methods for building houses in factories were becoming more cost-effective and efficient. He said: "I am wholly positive about modern methods, which are crucial to the development of a modernised industry that can meet the needs of today - and of tomorrow.

"The UK must not lag behind other countries - we need to learn from our own and from wider experience to make a change."

Peter Atkinson, group property director of Yorkshire Housing, welcomed the positive attitude of government ministers towards factory-built homes.

He said: "We have been bold in delivering this innovative housing scheme which is the first of its type outside of London. It is the aim of the Government to build more homes like this and we share this vision.

"We are working with partners to deliver more homes like these across Yorkshire to ensure that local people can take advantage of quality affordable homes."

The Sixth Avenue scheme also won a Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors regional award for Design and Innovation in 2002.

Updated: 11:08 Tuesday, June 10, 2003