Make UK calls on government to support modular housing revolution

The report - Greener, better, faster: Modular’s role in solving the housing crisis - claims that modular homes are up to 50 per cent quicker to build and cost 55 per cent less to heat than a typical brick-built British home.

Calling on government to introduce a series of measures aimed at supercharging the sector, it adds that modular homes are also significantly kinder to the environment: accounting for 83 per cent less CO2 during construction, producing substantially less waste than traditional builds, and dramatically reducing the amount of transport access required for building sites.

With traditional construction struggling to deliver Government targets for 300,000 new homes a year, the report claims that modular housing is already delivering on some of its potential. Modular manufacturers already produce 3,300 homes each year and have built over 40 factories in post-industrial provincial towns or cities, creating over 3,000 jobs, and delivering £700m of investment to low-growth, low employment areas. Meanwhile, record spending by modular construction companies in Research and Development accounts for 30% of all R&D in across the whole construction sector.

The report calls on government to accelerate the sector’s growth by dedicate 20% of its programme of affordable housing provision to modular housing, fast-tracking the planning process for modular homes, and raising the energy efficiency standards for new housing.  Make UK claims that collectively, these changes would drive up standards, while offering pipeline security for modular producers and helping the industry to scale up.

“This report shows definitively that modular is now a significant player in the UK housing market, said Steve Cole Director of Make UK Modular  “Government must accelerate modular delivery, building on the investment made and the jobs created, by removing the remaining barriers holding the industry back.”