A recent review of the awareness and adoption of offsite manufacturing undertaken by LHC found that while interest is at an all-time high and constantly growing it is still to be fully embraced by all.
For the second year LHC partnered
with Inside Housing on a survey of
offsite thinking. The 2018 survey took
responses from 230 individuals across
UK housing associations, ALMOs,
local authorities, consultancies and
construction firms. The findings
produced and encouraging growth
curve for offsite manufacture from
the review 12 months previously. In
2017, only 41% of respondents said
they were planning to employ offsite
construction methods in the coming
year. This is now 43% planning to use
offsite during the next 12 months.
Asked about longer-term plans,
respondents indicated an expectation
of greater use of offsite construction
technologies such as volumetric,
panellised and hybrid solutions with
more 56% saying their organisation
is planning to increase the number of
homes it builds using offsite methods
in the near future.
Tony Woods, Technical Manager at
LHC said: "There is a general move in
the direction of offsite construction.
But the survey results imply to me that
most people are still just dipping their
toe in the market and looking at doing pilot studies without really committing.
I think people are very conservative
and I think most of the public sector
tends to follow rather than lead on
this. So they'll keep doing pilots until
someone really blazes the trail."
It is notable that 45% of respondents say the primary reason their
organisation is planning to increase
offsite construction is to speed up
delivery. But some fear the desperate
need to start building homes is leading
to a lack of focus on longer-term
viability. "The most important thing as
long-term landlords is that we have
well-built assets," said one respondent.
"There is too much obsession with
speed in this debate - driven by
people wanting a 'quick fix'. The
emphasis should be on quality and
long-term robustness."
Speed of construction is of critical importance to the increase of social housing, with survey results implying that this element of the argument is convincing, with 89% of those answering the survey rating offsite as 'excellent' or 'good' on speed of construction when compared to more traditional methods.
Woods says: "We've found over
the past few years that clients want
a turnkey solution (from offsite
manufacturers)," adds Tony Woods.
"They just want to go to one person
and say, 'right, build the house - do
all the work'. And you've still got a
disconnect I think, with some people
who say they just want to manufacture
whereas clients want somebody who
can build houses."
"Too many offsite factories seem
to be popping up all saying they
need the volume," says Allan Fisher,
Director of Development and Assets
at Nottingham Community Housing
Association. "It would be better
suited to a combined regional sector
approach with a small number of
suppliers who can deliver based
on volume available and can gain
the necessary warranties and
accreditations required for multitenure
programmes."
"The industry hasn't yet reached the
tipping point where offsite is lower cost
than traditional for most residential
developments," says Paul Hackett,
Chief Executive of Optivo. "However,
it's just a question of time. Now is the
time for housing associations to 'gear
up', with partnerships as the best way
to learn."
LHC partnered with Inside Housing
to produce the review. More details
and findings can be found at:
www.insidehousing.co.uk
For more information on LHC visit: www.lhc.gov.uk
Original Link - Offsite Magazine
