Steve Chivers, Managing Director at modular manufacturer Rollalong and Paul Read, Head of Development and Sales at Magna Housing, discuss how their partnership is encouraging more clients to see the benefits of offsite construction.
The two Dorset-based companies have been working together to develop a cluster of clients in the south of England to create a strong enough pipeline of demand for modular housing to make the offsite approach cost-effective for the manufacturer.
“Our main issue at present is that clients aren’t prepared to commit to the volumes that make MMC work,” says Steve Chivers. “It’s a chicken and egg situation: clients want our higher quality product but at the price of a traditional build home. If factories had the same volumes, clients would soon be getting the quality and the price point they naturally demand. Clusters of clients who are prepared to embrace modular construction as the way forward would bring that into reality.”
Rollalong and Magna Housing have been working together for about 18 months and to date have manufactured 45 houses which are identified for seven different schemes at various stages of planning approval. “Data we hold as a social landlord backs up the narrative of the well-publicised performance gap issue which was highlighted by the Committee on Climate Change and Future Homes Standards,” says Paul Read. “Our data demonstrates that the people who are really taking a leap of faith are those who procure homes on a site-by-site basis at the lowest initial cost: sometimes you get lucky on quality and price and sometimes you don’t.
