// ARTICLE


With a government pledge to deliver 1.5million new homes in 5-years, is offsite construction about to come of age?


O


ffsite construction and MMC can deliver significant efficiency gains, yet it represents only a fraction of builds delivered in the UK each year, John Duckworth, Director of Commercial Sales, Deceuninck, discusses.


Labour’s house building targets to deliver 1.5 million new homes in five years are ambitious. The new build sector faces a number of distinct hurdles in delivery.


Regardless of the area that you’re working in, construction faces some universal challenges. Productivity remains low, delays and disruption, can make delivery unpredictable.


The elephant in the room is, however, the availability of workers. If the Government is going to get anywhere near its target to deliver 300,000 new homes a year it’s going to need the workforce to do it, and labour, especially skilled and experienced workers, are in short supply.


According to a new study by PlanRadar, 78% of housebuilders reported rising buildings costs, with labour shortages listed as the top challenge, with 75% of respondents stating that the availability of skilled workers was already delaying completions.


Offsite construction has the potential to change that. Standardisation of processes, pre-fabrication and modularisation, create an opportunity to deliver buildings more effectively, simplifying construction and delivering cost, efficiency and environmental gains.


So why hasn’t it gained more traction and what could it do for UK construction?


32 Autumn 2024 M33 What are Modern Methods of Construction?


This is one of those ‘how long is a piece of string questions’ it means different things to different people - and everything is open for interpretation, however, as a starting point at least there is a general consensus around the Ministry for Communities and Local Government’s 2019 definition framework.


Although applied primarily in the context of housing, it remains a useful starting point for wider construction projects and includes seven definitions of MMC, the first five using offsite construction methods:


• Category 1. Volumetric modular


3D segments of buildings manufactured offsite and together on it.


• Category 2. Structural panelised Wall and ceiling panels or frames that are manufactured and assembled onsite


• Category 3. Offsite components


Structural elements, for example load bearing beams, columns and slabs that are built offsite


• Category 4. Additive manufacture Printing parts of buildings, either on or offsite


• Category 5. Non-structural assemblies and subassemblies


Non-Structural assemblies components that are manufactured offsite e.g. pods


• Category 6. On site building material improvements


Ways to reduce on site labour by through new materials e.g., format blocks or pre-cut components


• Category 7. On site process improvement Innovation for example lean construction, digital augmentation etc.


How big is the offsite sector in the UK?


The latest official data suggest that the offsite construction delivers around 7% of UK construction GDP. This figure remains comparatively low, the construction sector far slower to embrace offsite and modular builds, than forecast.


How much money could offsite construction save compared to traditional methods?


Research by KPMG has suggested that shorter delivery times and lower inflationary costs, could deliver financial net gains of up to 7% on projects delivered offsite, compared to those using traditional onsite methods.


Does offsite construction offer the answer to the labour shortage?


Provisional figures from the Office for National Statistics showed construction vacancies are at a historical high, topping 38,000 at the end of summer 2024.


This is in part attributable to a post-Brexit exodus with a 42% fall in EU construction workers, according to the ONS. Pressure on skilled labour, it said, was also being compounded by the age of UK born construction workers, with 500,000 expected to retire in the next 10 to 15 years.


ONS figures also highlighting that the labour shortages had led to the highest rate of annual percentage growth in pay of any sector at 14.3% compared to a national average of 7.3%.


Pre-fabrication can standardise process, lower skills but most importantly help to create a safer and more attractive environment for construction workers - something which could encourage them to stay in the industry for longer.


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