Government Warned About Home Building Target Failure
July 4, 2019
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The government is being given a warning in a report by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee. Basically, the committee headed by Labour MP Clive Betts, say that the government is in danger of missing its target of 300,000 newly built homes per year. This target needs to be achieved by the middle of the next decade, but government must act quickly to be successful.
The reason for potential failure? A heavy reliance on old school building techniques and a reluctance to embrace modern construction technologies. In a written report, a group of influential ministers warn that moves to increase capacity and encourage investor confidence should begin SAP.
Modern Methods of Construction [MMC] offer great potential when it comes to speed, quality and budgeting within the industry. Betts stated that “This is not simply about shifting production away from the building site and into factories. It is about seizing opportunities that modern technologies allow.”
The report says that more investment should be ploughed into MMC developments and promotion of the concept. The amount of homes built annually that use MMC technology should be monitored and documented. There should also be a push towards MMC training, and local authorities must be encouraged to build more homes that make use of these modern technologies. These include digital technologies, precision manufacturing and ground breaking new materials.
The committee argued that MMC homebuilders should be assisted by the government wherever possible, by being given access to land in their control. Of course uncertainty is inevitable where materials etc are relatively new. This is why there is are recommendations for digital logbooks and durability data collection to reduce risk.
The government is also being asked to contribute to the efforts by organising skills programmes and apprenticeship schemes that include both traditional and MMC techniques. They also need to produce clear regulations and ensure the cost of new materials is not too high.