2022 was an exhilarating year for offsite construction in the UK as the Government, modular construction groups and independent bodies spearheaded a range of initiatives, research and training, helping push MMC up the national agenda.
The year kicked off on a high following the December launch of a significant new voice for volumetric modular housebuilders, Make UK Modular, whose membership accounts for about three-quarters of Category 1 MMC output, equivalent to about 1 in 50 homes built in the UK.
MakeUK Modular
Founded by prefab housing pioneers TopHat, ilke Homes, Laing O’Rourke and Legal and General Modular, the trade body has already made great strides, having established strong working relationships with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities and Homes England. The organisation submitted written evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee and a House of Lords committee on land use in England and the built environment, with work cited in two of their published reports to help shape policy around modular housing.
In October, Make UK Modular published its own report, in partnership with KOPE, setting out how factory-built precision engineered homes could revolutionise the construction sector and rapidly address Britain’s growing housing crisis. With traditional construction struggling to deliver on Government targets for 300,000 new homes a year, ‘Greener, better, faster: Modular’s role in solving the housing crisis’ revealed that by 2025 the modular housing sector will have the capacity to deliver 20,000 low carbon, energy efficient homes per annum. These homes would be up to 50% quicker to build and cost 55% less to heat than a typical brick-built UK home.
The report calls on the government to introduce various measures to supercharge the sector, dedicating 20% of its programme of affordable housing provision to modular housing; fast-tracking the planning process for modular homes; and raising energy efficiency standards for new housing. Taken together, these would help drive up standards,ensure pipeline security for modular producers, and help the sector scale up, said the report. Recent Government support for the sector included the creation in 2021 (with £10 million of seed funding) of a new MMC Taskforce to accelerate the development of offsite construction. However, a disappointing lack of communication from the group in 2022 leaves us hopeful they will have more to report in next year’s round-up…
Big frameworks
The UK’s biggest public procurement organisation, Crown Commercial Service, tendered a mega offsite construction framework covering all Government departments over the Summer. The collaborative Offsite Construction Solutions framework is thought to be worth up to £10bn as more projects switch to modular designs to cut costs and speed up construction. It replaces the existing £500m modular building solutions agreement secured four years ago. Another innovative framework, Building Better run by an alliance of 30 housing associations and local authorities, had its one-year anniversary in 2022 triggering the publication of several ‘lessons learnt’.
The Category 1 framework had over 1,400 units put forward by members by mid-September this year and about two thirds were live at that time, according to a blog post on the organisation’s website. Building Better said huge delays in the development process made it necessary to prioritise schemes where the housing provider owns the land, in combination with upcoming planning response deadlines. It noted that clients being guarded about the budget they’re working towards is counterproductive (either the manufacturer can deliver at the price needed, or they can’t) so being upfront about costs early doors will quickly determine a scheme’s viability. The report also highlights the importance of physical site and factory visits and sharing feedback on designs and costs to build a strong relationship between clients and partners. Furthermore, it said an emphasis on reframing the contract as a manufacturing contract, rather than a construction contract, encourages members to be a more informed customer.
Driving digitisation
Digital innovation goes hand-in-hand with MMC and this year saw the Government-backed Centre of Digital Built Britain complete its five-year mission to spearhead high tech solutions to many challenges facing the built environment. CDBB was a key contributor to the development of the Apollo Protocol, a national framework being developed to bridge the sectoral divide between the built environment and manufacturing to unlock the benefits of digital twins. A white paper on the protocol, published in October and co-written by CDBB with organisations including BEIS, the Institute of Engineering and Technology, and the Construction Leadership Council, sets out how the two sectors should formalise the co-ordination of digital twins and develop a common language and business models.
Alongside the need for greater digitisation in construction, uptake of MMC requires greater standardisation, upfront investment and access to funding - all areas being investigated by Buildoffsite. The promotional group revealed in April that it is now represented on four BSI committees to ensure that the offsite sector’s needs are considered in new standards. These are: B/209/0-/04 BS8895 Designing for material efficiency in building projects; B/558/01 Circular Economy in the Construction Sector; CB/301 Offsite and Modern Methods of Construction; and B/209/0-/10, which has just revised the BS 5606 Guide to accuracy in building. Buildoffsite also contributed to the newly-revised standard BS 5606:2022 Accuracy and tolerance in design and construction, which contains numerous aspects related to the use of offsite methods and their integration with on site works.
Generation modular
Training bodies and research institutions have been working hard to upskill a new generation of construction professionals to capitalise on the modular revolution. The Connolly Center for Modern Construction, opened in late 2021 is currently putting its first cohort of young people through their paces at its purpose-built space at Bedford College as part of the Government's new T-Level scheme. Plans for a new Housing Innovation and Construction Skills Academy in Sunderland, where local people will be upskilled to produce new factory-made homes, are also being progressed after the facility received planning permission last year.
The Supply Chain Sustainability School produces a prodigious amount of free training material, including a whole series of courses targeting the offsite construction sector. In November, it published a report examining how to enhance the benefits of the social value created through the use of offsite manufacture.
The findings indicate there is potential for offsite to deliver the same, if not more, value to society than traditional construction, provided there is early engagement with stakeholders across the supply chain. Inspiring stuff indeed, and as the many stories detailed here demonstrate, further proof that the MMC revolution is already underway.
