The Homes for Heroes national campaign calls on the government to commit to delivering 100,000 affordable, eco-friendly, factory-built homes for key workers on public land and is backed by an alliance of major housing associations and modular housing manufacturers.
The campaign deliberately echoes the Homes for Heroes drive for soldiers after World Wars One and Two but this time is calling for housing for nurses and other key workers who have been on the frontline in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic during lockdown. The campaign wants to deliver 100,000 eco-friendly factory-built homes to repay ‘historic debt’ owed to key workers manufactured in British factories.
The national campaign urges Government to support investment in modular construction to create homes on public land and create thousands of highly-skilled manufacturing jobs. Homes for Heroes is a national alliance of housing associations, public figures, business leaders and leading high-tech manufacturers of modular homes. It wants the government to help fund the initiative alongside private investors and housing associations, using public land and innovative new offsite manufacturing techniques which can ensure homes are finished quickly and surpass current energy performance requirements.
As well as building affordable housing for sale and rent, the main societal benefit would be major investment into new modular housing factories likely to come forward if there was a certainty of future demand. Like any manufacturing facility, housing factories such as those in Yorkshire, owned by companies such as Legal and General (L&G) and ilke Homes are capital-intensive and cannot be ‘turned off and on like traditional construction’.
“Modular construction will enable the delivery of high quality homes at a much faster rate than through traditional construction,” says Rosie Toogood, CEO of Legal & General’s Modular Homes. “In a post Covid-19 crisis environment, the speed of delivery will be more important than ever before. The Homes for Heroes campaign unites several great causes: creating quality homes for genuine heroes, powering innovation and skills right at the time we need to create jobs and pushing the bar upwards when it comes to quality and sustainability. We're delighted to support this initiative.”
Dave Sheridan, Executive Chairman at ilke Homes, adds: “Through our partnerships with placemaking pioneers such as Places for People, our investment with Homes England and our growing pipeline with developers and housing associations, we are seeing growing support for MMC because of the demand for better quality homes where the delivery time and energy use is halved. This is a great initiative to build homes, create jobs and spur on an emerging manufacturing sector that can offer countless benefits to the economy - not just in housing. This is primarily about supporting key workers but it is also about creating more jobs and cleverly pooling resources together to create economies of scale that can help our country create a new, highly-skilled workforce while repaying the amazing workers who have done so much during this difficult period.”
As defined by the UK Government, key workers include NHS workers and carers: people working in education and childcare, those supporting the food chain such as farmers, supermarket workers and delivery drivers, transport workers, those in local and national government and key public services including the fire service, police and armed forces. The additional demand would leverage additional private sector investment in offsite construction, kick-starting a high-tech manufacturing revolution, creating jobs and boosting regional economies.
“Essential workers on the frontline of this crisis are often among the lowest paid in society,” said Helen Evans, Chair of the G15 group of London’s largest housing associations and Chief Executive of Network Homes. “Homes for Heroes is about giving these people a safe, secure and genuinely affordable home to live in. With the collaboration of government and the housing sector, both private and social, we can bring forward a once-in-a-generation number of new homes for our essential workers, including those not eligible for traditional key worker housing. Homes will be well designed, with private outdoor space, in convenient well-connected locations for healthcare facilities, schools and other employment hubs.”
Creating 100,000 new, factory-built homes on public sector and housing association land over the next five years would deliver a wide range of economic benefits to all corners of the country – by allowing factories to be created all across the industrial heartlands. The campaign says that the UK’s estimated 7.1 million key workers deserve homes that are energy efficient, beautifully designed and digitally connected, with access to private outside areas and high-quality green space, but that many struggled to afford a decent home in their community. It has called on national and local government to back the campaign with grant funding and other support.
“We believe placemaking organisations should be proactive in shaping a greener future for homes that creates less waste and prioritises speed and quality,” says David Cowans, Group Chief Executive of Places for People. “The Homes for Heroes campaign brings together institutional investors, housing associations and offsite manufacturers around a fantastic initiative that will help provide high-quality modern homes for our key workers and boost this emerging manufacturing sector.”
For more information and to read the full G-15 report ‘Homes for Heroes: Safe, secure and genuinely affordable homes to rent and buy, starting to repay society’s debt to heroic essential workers’ visit: www.g15.london/what-we-do/homes-for-heroes
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