Ministers should create specific funding and targets for modular homes as part of the government's drive to build 75,000 this decade, a report has urged
The study, co-authored by HTA Design partner Mike De'Ath, recommends that the government puts manufactured housing at the heart of the country's economic revival.
Prime minister Boris Johnson this summer announced Project Speed as he pledged to 'build faster' as part of a response to the financial damage caused by the coronavirus.
De'Ath, in partnership with offsite construction champion Mark Farmer, urged a range of government interventions to ensure modular housing can deliver 75,000 homes and 50,000 jobs by 2030.
'We need a plan that joins up government and its agencies with housing procurers and deliverers at an unprecedented scale. A strategy that also calls for targeted government subsidy, investment, land release, planning reform and tenure diversification,' said the Build Homes, Build Jobs, Build Innovation report.
Among a range of requests, the report called for chancellor Rishi Sunak to announce cash and targets weighted towards modular homes.
'For the Autumn Spending Review, we call for an enhanced Affordable Housing Programme […] with an incentivised grant regime favouring or even, in certain appropriate instances, mandating, modular delivery,' said Farmer and De'Ath.
'We also ask for a specific funding pot via devolution to support authorities coming together to increase aggregation in their demand with associated targets to increase modular delivered homes, encouraging greater collaboration, sharing and adoption of modular best practice, joint procurement and supply chains in housing delivery.'
The report called for ministers to 'promote recognition of the delivery and quality benefits of modular to planning authorities' and to 'encourage fast-tracking' of the planning process for modular homes.
It also said the Homes England Delivery Partner Panel should be open to 'more integrated, modular-led developer/contractors'.
De'Ath said: 'Our experience of designing modular manufactured housing over the past decade demonstrates the huge benefits to housing delivery. New modular homes outperform traditional new homes in nearly every area, not least the quality of build and speed possible through innovation.
'Our ambition for 75,000 new, beautifully designed, modular homes is realistic and achievable, so our ask of government therefore is simple: help us stimulate and then galvanise the demand for modular homebuilding. With this help, a sustained long-term pipeline can underpin investment in manufacturing to deliver the quality homes we need while creating the jobs we want.'
Source: architectsjournal.co.uk
