A Building Insights LIVE construction industry round table held last week confronted why widespread adoption of industrialised, offsite-based Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) has failed to be realised in the housebuilding sector, but also proposed wide-ranging and realistic solutions.
Sponsored by Medite Smartply and Ibstock Brick, the event unpicked the crucial subject of ‘Unlocking MMC and Offsite in Residential Developments,’ in the wake of a slew of major players in the sector withdrawing MMC investments in recent years. One of the misconceptions tackled however was how this only represented a limited picture in terms of the overall potential for panelised, timber-oriented, and certain volumetric approaches. With key drivers of skills shortages, better quality and energy performance, and supply chain concerns, MMC was seen to be more important than ever in supporting delivery, but takeup was still relatively low at around 20% of current new build homes.
In terms of solutions, the group believed the Government should bring levers to play to drive the housebuilding sector to both increase supply of quality housebuilding, and as a result drive offsite adoption. Delegates agreed that if housing delivery was considered as a cross-party health and social value infrastructure need rather than reactive to market demand, there was a better chance of embracing the shift to MMC in the mainstream. But attendees warned that the entire contractual model may need to shift away from a profit-based imperative to see a culture change that supports widespread adoption of innovative approaches which panelised MMC and timber frame, in particular, can deliver to housebuilding.
The round table brought together leading modular construction specialists, volume housebuilders, consultants, architects and academics, to take a broad look at the problems and thereby find pragmatic solutions. The event sponsors posed their own key questions, including around how the housing sector could transition away from a “project-by-project mindset” to accepting more standardisation, and how architectural freedom could be protected in that context.
With skills being the overall biggest concern alongside building performance, MMC was seen as a fundamental way to attract new professionals into the sector across all disciplines. Architects present stressed that the design role was lacking in much of housebuilding, while taller buildings were more likely to involve architects meaning a greater likelihood of offsite approaches being considered early in projects.
Delegates highlighted how standardisation combined with careful placemaking approaches could be an answer to using MMC at scale in new housing schemes, offsetting potential similarity of look and feel using landscaping and other techniques. But it was emphasised that standardisation did not automatically lead to “characterless boxes,” and that an approach of “different solutions for different sites” was needed.
The round table explored how the changes to fixing designs early in offsite would put some constraints on the traditional levels of supply chain flexibility housebuilders have enjoyed. But they also highlighted the potential to grow offsite housebuilding at scale under a new council housebuilding programme (in the wake of putative future PM Andy Burnham’s pledge to launch the biggest social housebuilding initiative since the 1950s) was also highlighted. Delegates believed that Government intervention, including financial levers, were keys to ensuring that homes targets could be delivered, and offsite would be only part of the solution. And given the importance of housing delivery, it should be somehow depoliticised and made less vulnerable to changing Electorial currents.
Chair of the event, James Parker, editor of Housebuilder & Developer magazine, commented: “This was a fascinating session, where we confronted some of the reasons behind the recent withdrawals by major firms from offsite, but also countered some misconceptions. One was that these failures represented MMC generally, while they were largely volumetric-based. But as we analysed the issues and problems to help discover the solutions that will work to grow much-needed takeup at scale in residential, the discussion naturally zoomed out to overarching industry factors. These systemic problems, including the way contracts are set up, were seen as core blockers against the innovation needed for mainstream offsite adoption, but changing these will require major surgery.”
The full list of attendees was as follows:
Sam Stacey Director, A7C
Tony Woods Technical Manager – Construction and Sustainability, Procurement for Housing
Rory Bergin Partner, HTA architects
Andrew Orriss Interim Chief Executive, Structural Timber Association
Stephen Wightman Director, UK MMC Lead, AtkinsRéalis
Nigel Ostime Consultant, Hawkins\Brown
Richard Quarry Equity Partner, Baker Ruff Hannon LLP
Jack Brayshaw Director of Research and Innovation, Vistry
Sponsors’ Attendees:
Andrew Shepherd Managing Director, Ibstock Brick
Roly Ward Head of Business Development, Medite Smartply UK
A Building Insights podcast capturing highlights and recommendations from the discussion, will be available soon at: insights.netmagmedia.co.uk