A recent Round-table Event hosted by SIG Building Systems, brought together a select group of industry experts to discuss how to expand the use of offsite manufacture across the housing market and wider construction sector. Gary Ramsay reports on the key points.
In recent years ‘housing’ and ‘crisis’ are two words that have become inextricably linked. The root causes rest in the decades-long decrease of housebuilding, a growing population, the vagaries of inflated house prices and recent economic gloom. These have all combined to push the notion of home ownership spiralling out of the reach of many. The financial pressures of rent and mortgages are vast for many parts of society and what constitutes ‘affordable housing’ is a lottery, depending on which part of the UK you want to live and work.
The Housing White Paper published in February – Fixing our Broken Housing Market – recognised that change is a necessity and promised a broad range of ‘radical, lasting reform’ on the ways homes are delivered. These reforms included the greater use of offsite manufacturing and more reliable and faster building methods to change the housing market and boost the supply of new homes. The Housing White Paper was coloured by Mark Farmer’s landmark report Modernise of Die. There are many challenges ahead for the construction industry and ambitious plans in the pipeline for the housing sector but how can this growth in offsite activity be accelerated?
“You have to go back to the Housing White Paper to try and understand the direction of travel,” says CEO of Cast Consultancy, Mark Farmer. “It hopefully recognised some of the issues in my report and that the housing crisis isn’t just about land banking and fitness of the planning system. It was about recognising we have a construction capacity challenge. I think that was formalised in the White Paper.”
Since the publication of the White Paper, the government’s commitments have not progressed as quickly as anticipated – a General Election, Brexit uncertainty, the restructuring of the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA) and post-Grenfell introspection, has meant that across the UK the momentum has slowed just at the point when it shouldn’t. But it may be in London – with its enormous housing density – that change is progressing quicker with the London Assembly publishing its own exploration of offsite manufacture – Designed, Sealed Delivered – and Mayor Sadiq Khan pledging investment at least 1,059 new homes by March 2021, with a third expected to be built offsite.
“There are suggestions the pace of policy change in London could be quicker than at national level, adds Mark. “The political urgency seems to be bigger than at national level. The work done by Nicky Gavron at the London Assembly in parallel with the Mayor starting to recognise the role the Assembly can play in creating demand for a different type of construction is really important.”
Original Link - Offsite Magazine
