A new cross-industry working group will meet for the first time on December 12 with the housing minister Alok Sharma MP (pictured) to discuss modern methods of construction (MMC).
The meeting, which will include the Building Society Association, will focus on increasing the uptake of MMC and involve groups of people working together to remove any barriers to more MMC.
Sarah Wilde, mortgage policy adviser at the BSA, said: “We welcome the creation of this new group by the Department for Communities and Local Government.
“It brings together representatives from the wider housing industry, including lenders, with a remit to break down barriers and help ramp up delivery of housing using new building technologies like offsite construction. I have high hopes for the results we can achieve together.”
In October, Wilde went to Almere in Amsterdam to see the popular modern house building techniques used there.
With other colleagues, she met a lender and an architect, finding out the variety of materials and building methods used and that they were safe, meeting tough building regulations.
If you have a building permit and follow the regulations in Almere, you have the freedom to build.
They also came across Wikkelhouse, a home-made of cardboard that’s sustainably produced and has a minimal expected life cycle of 30 years.
The Laying the Foundations for Modern Methods of Construction 2016 report found that MMC, including offsite construction, could be a solution to the housing crisis.
At the 2017 BSA Annual Lunch in November, the chairman of the BSA, Jonathan Westhoff , gave a speech in which he reiterated these points of needing more MMC and welcomed the new group.
He said: “To do this we must improve knowledge and understanding. The government can bring all the relevant sectors to the table to get things moving.
“We welcome the new cross-industry working group, which meets for the first time in December and commit to playing a full and active role in it.”
Original link - Mortgage Introducer
