5 new SME partnerships signed
Digital material-matching platform targets small and medium-sized developers with collaborative approach to cost savings and carbon reduction
MukAway has signed partnerships with SME housebuilders Lioncourt Homes, Owl Homes, NL Property, Elan Homes North West, Midlands and South - underlining the digital platform's commitment to supporting smaller developers through collaborative material management.
While the platform has attracted major housebuilders including Wain Homes, Barratt Homes, David Wilson Homes, and Redrow, Fraser Linaker, CEO of MukAway, says SMEs remain central to the company's strategy.
He said: "SMEs are equally important to us. We know they are the backbone of the industry. When multiple SME developers join MukAway, they collectively gain access to a wider network of material-matching opportunities, shared compliance infrastructure, and the buying power that comes from being part of a growing digital ecosystem."
The platform connects construction sites with surplus soil to those requiring fill material, automating compliance documentation and carbon tracking while reducing landfill costs and haulage miles.
Matthew Underwood, Technical Director at Lioncourt Homes, said collaboration between new-build housing developers is essential for smaller operators.
He said: "Collaboration provides access to expertise, resources, and capacity that may not be available in-house. By working together with key partners we can unlock more land opportunities, strengthen planning outcomes, and share technical and compliance responsibilities to deliver homes faster and more proficiently.
"It also helps spread risk in a challenging market, builds resilience against labour and material pressures, and supports better placemaking and community outcomes."
Underwood added that collaboration improves effectiveness across every delivery stage.
He said: "When we align processes, share knowledge, and coordinate decisions, we accelerate programmes and give suppliers and contractors a consistent, predictable pipeline of work.
"For SMEs in particular, a collaborative approach boosts operational performance and opens up opportunities that would be difficult to achieve alone, making us more sustainable, resilient, and cost-efficient."
Ian Cheveau, Marketing & BD Director and ESG Champion at MukAway, said the platform makes it a level playing field for access to sustainable material management.
He added: "SMEs often operate with tighter margins and less internal resource for complex compliance and ESG reporting.
“When SMEs like Lioncourt and Owl Homes work together through MukAway, they strengthen not just their own operations, they strengthen the wider industry."
The platform enables SMEs to access automated DEFRA-compliant CO₂e calculations, Material Management Plans stored for 10 years, transparent haulage bidding, and Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) credit tracking - capabilities traditionally available only to larger developers with dedicated sustainability teams.
Fraser Linaker added: "A single SME might have one or two sites with surplus soil. But when multiple SMEs collaborate through the platform, suddenly you have a regional network working together - reducing costs, cutting carbon, and solving material management challenges collectively.
“Collaboration is the name of the game. And MukAway facilitates that. We’ll join SME’s together as well as connect them to the big volume housebuilders, should there be viable matches – which of course we know there will be as it’s happened and is happening right now.”
With national rollout scheduled for next month, MukAway is positioning collaborative material management as a competitive advantage for SME developers facing rising landfill taxes, stricter environmental regulations, and increasing ESG scrutiny.
