What is MMC?
In 2020, then housing secretary Robert Jenrick said that he, chancellor Rishi Sunak and the chief secretary to the treasury Stephen Barclay were “hugely supportive” of using modern methods of construction to build homes.
The government has made it a condition of their £11.5bn affordable homes programme that at least 25% of those homes should be manufactured through modern methods.
The Government’s new Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) Taskforce, backed by £10m of seed funding, aims to accelerate the delivery of offsite homes across the UK, working closely with housing associations and local authorities to achieve this.
The short answer is no as it depends on a number of factors. There has been a huge reduction in capital costs over the past decade and these will continue to come down, as our pipeline grows bigger and longer.
We know the real cost reduction is in improved quality, but there is little data backed evidence of this. Building Better will continue to collect and investigate means to link the capital cost of new development to ongoing costs of housing management, maintenance and service charges.
In principle, no. In fact, with the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and other digital technologies which are inherent in the manufacturing process, repairs and renovations could become proactive, more efficient and less intrusive.
In practice, our asset management teams need to be involved in the development process from the beginning to ensure repairs are not attempted in the same way as would be the case with a traditional brick / cement structure.
The biggest challenge is around insurance and the risks associated with
This is a myth, which has been busted since the market moved on from pre-fab buildings made in the post WWII era. It is possible to standardise performance, processes and even layouts but still retain differences in how homes look on the outside.
In fact, the more we standardise across defined criteria, the greater the ability to customise additional elements.
A closely controlled factory environment allows complete control and assurance over quality management. Some manufacturers have modelled how these practices lower future costs, however, there is simply not the volume of homes to prove this point.
Given the lack of repeatable and scalable evidence, Homes England has launched an in depth study in addition to independent research projects such as Homegroup’s Innovation Village in Gateshead.
Building Better members used the procurement process to compare manufacturers on both capital costs and evidence of improved quality via metrics such as Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) and Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) ratings and air tightness.
Modular buildings are made from the very same high-quality materials as traditional structures and so no more harmful for the environment. In some cases, they are significantly less harmful through the use of less cement and fewer bricks, both of which are toxic to create. In some cases, materials can provide better durability and insulation, lowering the carbon footprint of the end use.
As homes are manufactured in controlled factory environments, away from site, there is up to 90% less waste of materials, providing a more sustainable and eco-friendly way of building. Days on-site are also far fewer than traditional construction projects, so there is less use of heavy equipment and machinery, reducing power consumption.
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