54 UNLOCKING MMC & OFFSITE IN RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENTS ROUND TABLE REVIEW
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INDUSTRY & GOVERNMENT
We asked the round table delegates to give their key recommendations for driving MMC in residential
• Nigel Ostime, Hawkins\Brown: “We know how to do MMC, but we need the right environment; that involves Government buy-in, procurement reform, and clients who understand the benefi t of long-term value rather than short-term costs.”
DESIGNING THE FUTURE Rory Bergin of HTA Architects asserted “buildings cannot solve all the problems clients have”
rather than stand-alone properties. The chair James Parker asked the group whether there was a risk of “characterless boxes,” and how this could be avoided. Jack Brayshaw stressed how Vistry had managed to standardise MMC developments, but offset any potential formal monotony with “softer landscaping,” an approach endorsed by others including Nigel Ostime of Hawkins\ Brown. Brayshaw said that with over 300 standard house varieties, non-standard was ery diffi cult to manage, and istry had extrapolated a “standard kit of parts” for a collection which is “complementary to timber frame.’ HTA Design’s Rory Bergin pushed back against the idea that the “building should solve every problem the clients have,” in terms of functional requirements, as this would be very, very diffi cult for any ind of to enter the market.” In light of this, he said “there does need to be a kind of “dFMA overlay, where at some point in every project, someone says, ‘can this building be built simply, quickly, and easily, and if not then we know there’s a lot of additional costs baked in.”
INTERVENTIONS
The group explored potential industry initiatives, such as developers potentially sharing their MMC templates, in order to share them, and better data on MMC solutions from manufacturers. This would enable “real comparisons,” said Stephen Wightman of AtkinsRéalis, and counter assumptions on MMC and carbon effi ciency from engineers, for eample. But what Government intervention was needed, especially for SME housebuilders to engage more? Sam Stacey, speaking from his varied
experience, echoed other delegates saying that the “current system hasn’t been working.” He added: “There are strong political and societal incentives to get better outcomes, and that has to involve the Government using levers to make it happen; there needs to be much more Government control.”
One intervention we certainly need to see is the new housebuilding-focused Andy Burnham-led administration listening more than predecessors to expert groups such as those gathered at our round table. Ploughing ahead with ideas around, for example, growing MMC without learning lessons from the vast experience of people in the sector, is sure to end in failure. The recommendations we gathered for both industry and Government are the starting point to help identify the practical ways forward. While delegates like Stephen Wightman stressed how a new delivery model around a different, more wellness-based idea of ‘value,’ possibly a more pragmatic, yet no less ambitious solution came from Andrew Shepherd of Ibstock Brick. He advocated the Government pivoting to seeing housing delivery as part of critical social infrastructure, rather than being solely market-led.
Such a change of approach would be critical for widespread MMC adoption and the better quality built future we all want to see.
We would like to thank the sponsors of our Building Insights LIVE round table – Ibstock Brick and Medite Smartply – for their support and participation in the event. To listen to a podcast capturing the discussion’s highlights, please visit:
insights.netmagmedia.co.uk
• Jack Brayshaw, Vistry: “Standardisation doesn’t mean characterless boxes. We’ve got housebuilders, architects and Government on board, the missing piece of the puzzle is local planners; the Government needs to help, with the National Planning Policy Framework”
• Richard Quarry, Baker Ruff Hannon: “We need to look at the quality of systems – including fi xings.”
• Roly Ward, Medite Smartply: “Government to give the assurance on work pipeline to enable medium sized businesses to scale and work on standardisation and repetition.”
• Andrew Orriss, Structural Timber Association: “Return to funding local authorities if they use MMC, and attract more SMEs, and ‘unsilo’ Government Departments to work together – at the moment they don’t talk to each other.”
• Sam Stacey, A7C: “The current system hasn’t been working; better outcomes have to involve Government levers.”
•
Stephen Wightman, AtkinsRéalis: “We need a new delivery model, with need new ways of recognising value, around things like wellbeing.”
• Andrew Shepherd, Ibstock Brick: “We need to start treating housing as infrastructure.”
• Roy Bergin, HTA Design: “If you want to do something diff erent, you’ve got to set up a vehicle, and you’ve got to make people responsible for doing it, measure their success, and remove them if they’re not achieving.”
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