How do you create 300,000 New Homes Each Year?

Most people who work in or around the construction industry are aware of the targets for creating new homes in the UK. Not since the 1960’s has the UK achieved its annual goal of 300,000 new properties required to meet the demand of an ever growing population; and this was achieved without the additional pressures of a drain on skilled labour that could follow from Brexit or that of an ageing workforce.

According to a recent survey by RICS, 88% of the members asked didn’t believe that the target was realistic. Most industries would have to look to adapt the way they work to meet this challenge; without a rethink on how we meet this demand and how we approach the solution, surely we are unable to sustain anything near the target of 300,000 home completions in 2019.

If we look at how expanding industries meet demand, they are able in most cases to scale up production rapidly; simple processes are improved, and/or new factory capacity is added. Many leaders in the UK’s Construction and Building Supplies companies believe we should start to think like manufacturers, and build in different ways. One possible solution that was discussed recently in Inside Housing magazine by LHC Director John Skivington, was that of off-site construction. He believes “Off-site manufacturing techniques offer a solution for getting good quality, affordable new homes built more quickly”.

Factory-built panellised and volumetric module units does offer a cost-effective and quick solution to house building, particularly in urban areas. Improved quality, reduced waste and efficient building techniques are helping to drive demand.  But if this is the solution why are so few people attracted to Off-site construction.? Well unfortunately many architects and designers are still unfamiliar with the technology, and are concerned by the creative restrictions that come with it. Some are possibly even confused about the different types of offsite solutions available, which is maybe why they are not seen as a solution to the house building challenge. Some of the challenges are that designers need to plan for a final structure that requires natural breaks in modules when planning the building layout. Other restrictions are that volumetric module sizes are limited by UK Highway laws for road transfer and can add further costs around shipping to site logistics.

One final consideration is that mortgage lending for non-traditional construction has always been seen to be a challenge, with only a few selected lenders being prepared to support a purchase, however this is slowly changing.

Offsite construction has its place particularly where speed of construction and repetition are key drivers but we must recognise that it is not the right solution in many cases. Traditional methods still hold a key place in 21st century housing construction in creating the iconic and interesting buildings of the future.