Greencore Homes is an Oxfordshire-based developer and manufacturer of low-carbon, timber-frame homes, built offsite using its own Biond closed-panel system. Every home is designed to better-than-net-zero standards, achieving EPC A as standard. With a target of delivering 10,000 homes by 2035, the business needed its systems and accreditations to keep pace with its ambition.
The challenge
Homes built offsite face a hurdle that traditional builds don’t. Lenders, insurers and warranty providers want independent assurance that a non-traditional construction system will perform for 60 years or more — and without it, mortgages on the finished homes are hard to secure.
The Buildoffsite Property Assurance Scheme (BOPAS) provides that assurance. Recognised by UK Finance, the Building Societies Association and the major lenders, it assesses two things: the durability of the construction system itself, and the capability of the organisation delivering it. The first is a technical assessment. The second requires a documented, auditable management system covering the full project lifecycle — and evidence that it works in practice, not just on paper.
Greencore’s Biond system was proven, but the business needed a management system that reflected how it actually delivers homes — from land acquisition through design, manufacture and construction to completion and handover. It had to satisfy a three-day assessment by LRQA, the scheme’s independent assessor, without burying a growing business in paperwork.
Greencore also wanted to build once, not twice. The system had to lay the foundations for future certification to ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environmental) and ISO 45001 (health and safety) — so that accreditation today would become certification tomorrow, on the same framework.
Why Principal Risk Management
Greencore needed more than template documents. A generic system would not have survived the audit, and it certainly would not have supported a business scaling towards 10,000 homes.
Principal Risk Management was appointed to build the management system around Greencore’s real operations: one framework, shaped by the people who would use it, rigorous enough for LRQA and lean enough for a growing business. Rigour without bureaucracy, in other words and a foundation that ISO certification could later build on rather than replace.
Our approach
Gap analysis against the BOPAS Standard
We began with a thorough gap analysis, measuring Greencore’s existing arrangements against the BOPAS Standard. This told us what was already strong, what needed formalising, and where the real distance to accreditation lay, so effort went where it mattered.
Collaborative system development
We developed the management system through process-development workshops with Greencore’s senior managers and leadership team. The people responsible for delivering homes shaped the processes that would govern that delivery. That’s what makes a system stick: compliance built around the work, not sitting beside it.
A framework built on the project lifecycle
Working with Greencore’s department heads, we organised the company’s operations into six connected stages, informed by the RIBA Plan of Work — the industry-standard framework for organising building projects. Together, the stages covered the full journey: land acquisition, design, manufacture, construction, completion and handover. Every process, record and control in the system now maps to a stage of delivering a home.
Training and implementation
We delivered a series of workshops across the business to introduce the new processes, explain the reasoning behind them and help employees apply the requirements within their own roles — from the factory floor to site.
Internal audit and assessment readiness
Before the LRQA assessment, we conducted internal audits to confirm the new arrangements had been integrated and were working as intended. We closed any gaps with time to spare, so Greencore walked into the audit knowing the system would hold up.
LRQA assessment
LRQA, the scheme’s independent assessor, conducted a three-day audit of Greencore’s management system and its application across the business. Principal Risk Management managed the assessment process on Greencore’s behalf, coordinating the audit programme, supporting staff through interviews and evidence requests, and handling LRQA’s findings.
Greencore was awarded full BOPAS accreditation for the required scope, covering project management, design, manufacturing and construction.
The outcome
Greencore Homes is now a fully BOPAS-accredited MMC provider, listed on the scheme’s public accreditation database. Its Biond closed-panel system has been assessed as durable for a minimum of 60 years — the assurance lenders, insurers and warranty providers look for before backing offsite manufactured homes.
The commercial value was clear from the top of the business:
“BOPAS accreditation validates our dedication to delivering high-quality, durable properties that go beyond industry standards. We can provide homeowners, lenders, and investors with the assurance they need in the long-term performance of our homes. This reflects our dedication to excellence and reinforces our position as a trusted developer in the market. Our BOPAS accreditation will be vital as we scale up the business to deliver 10,000 homes by 2035.” Jon Di-Stefano, CEO, Greencore Homes
Just as importantly, the system behind the accreditation was built to last. Because it was structured around Greencore’s real project lifecycle, it now serves as the foundation for certification to ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environmental) and ISO 45001 (health and safety), one framework, extended rather than rebuilt.
Beyond accreditation
Accreditation isn’t a finish line. BOPAS-accredited organisations are subject to ongoing surveillance audits by LRQA, and a management system only keeps its value if it keeps pace with the business.
Principal Risk Management continues to work alongside Greencore as its external HSEQ partner — updating the management system as the business grows, conducting internal audits, and supporting each LRQA surveillance audit. Because the system was structured around Greencore’s project lifecycle from the start, the route to ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001 runs through the framework that already exists — not a second project built from scratch.