The demand for social housing in the UK continues to grow at a much faster rate than its current level of supply. Figures from Shelter suggest that there are more than 1.8 million households waiting for a social home and this situation is becoming even more critical as an increasing number of people are being made homeless as they struggle to afford private rents, writes David Johnston, Category Manager at ESPO.
In light of the recent tragic events in London, the health and safety of many social or local authority homes is now under full scrutiny. There is a pressing need for emergency accommodation to be readily available to house people forced to leave their properties over closely-related issues such as social housing compliance with fire regulations.
In order to meet existing demand, the UK needs approximately 250,000 new homes a year but is struggling to meet this with the housing sector having only provided just over half of that amount. There is clearly no easy solution to our housing crisis, but some local authorities are beginning to wake up to the potential that modular buildings have to offer as a quick and affordable solution.
Modular buildings have come a long way since they were first introduced as temporary, often rickety structures to accommodate pupils in rapidly-expanding schools. Today, modular buildings are innovative and robust and are subject to the same Building Regulations as traditional constructions, and they must also meet the same quality standards. They are often constructed with the same materials that are used to build a regular house or flat but rather than being built on site, they’re fully kitted out with all electrics, plumbing, heating and internal finishes in a factory and are then delivered to be assembled on site. As most of the work is carried out in a factory, the process is much quicker than a traditional build, which can often be delayed due to adverse weather conditions.
These ready-made homes are already successfully being used by some local authorities and offer the equivalent standard of accommodation as new-build flats. As a professional buying organisation for the public sector, we are currently working on a new framework to support local authorities looking to purchase modular buildings for accommodation purposes.
The framework, due to launch at the beginning of next year, will enable local authorities to access a range of suppliers with all terms and conditions and prices pre-negotiated. Frameworks are EU/UK procurement regulation-compliant, meaning that if an organisation accesses a framework for their modular buildings, they don’t need to undertake their own full, lengthy tender processes. Suppliers are also carefully assessed during the procurement process for factors such as health and safety, insurance and supply chain resilience.
With local authorities now having to manage on tighter-than-ever budgets, and with leaner procurement teams meaning many no longer have the in-house resource to undertake complex, lengthy supplier competitions, we hope our new framework will play its part in delivering a fast, efficient and cost-effective route to help solve the UK’s social housing challenge.
Original link - www.psbj.co.uk
