MIPIM | The ‘how’ of Greater Manchester’s 75,000-homes target
Reskilling the workforce, planning patience, and a move away from engrained ways of working are all required to deliver on the city region’s ambitious housing delivery targets, according to participants at a roundtable discussion hosted at MIPIM.
Angela Mansell, managing director of Mansell Building Solutions, has long been a proponent of change within the construction industry and has championed the role modern methods of construction can play in ramping up delivery.
She threw down the gauntlet to the public and private sectors during a MIPIM roundtable discussion, challenging them to do their bit to make the changes needed to facilitate a significant scaling up of housing delivery in Greater Manchester, where 75,000 homes are planned in this parliament.
Hear the thoughts of participants in the video at the top of this article or on our YouTube channel.
Participants
Angela Mansell, manging director, Mansell Building Solutions
Paul Richards, deputy chief executive, Stockport Council
Aidan Thatcher, director of place, Wigan Council
Gareth Hayhoe, board director, DAY Architectural
Harry Hoodless, founder, Studio Hoodless
Phil Hepworth, director, AEW Architects
Phil Marsden, managing director for the North West, Muse
Mat Capper, director of utilities, Brookbanks
Chaired by Dan Whelan, deputy editor, Place North West
Key talking points
The industry should look to adopt more of the “design-led, precision-engineered solutions” that factory-manufactured systems can provide, according to Mansell.
A pivot away from on-site construction to off-site manufacturing presents an opportunity for the sector to scale up but can only succeed if there is certainty around pipeline.
More also needs to be done to attract fresh blood to the sector and reskill existing workers in new practices.
“We are losing people from construction faster than we are gaining them,” Mansell said.
Filling the increasing number of gaps in the construction workforce could require a complete overhaul of parts of the education system to clear the path for more leaners to pursue technical skills training.
The planning system was also a recurring topic of conversation. Participants agreed that developers were struggling for certainty around delivery timescales due to the UK’s under-resourced planning system. The reforms proposed by the government are welcome, the panel said, but will take some time to shake out.
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