VIDEO | Is MMC the key to solving the housing crisis?
Labour wants to deliver 1.5m new homes within five years and modern methods of construction will have an important role to play if this ambitious target is to be met, according to participants at a roundtable hosted by Mansell Building Solutions.
You can hear our panellists’ main takeaways from the conversation in the video at the top of this article.
This roundtable discussed the barriers to the adoption of MMC at scale and asked what needs to change in order for panelised and modular solutions to be considered viable alternatives to traditional construction.
Participants
- Angela Mansell, managing director, Mansell Building Solutions
- Helen Spencer, executive director of Growth, Great Places
- Bill Metcalfe, operations manager, Caddick Construction
- Dan Podesta, associate director, Civic Engineers
- Alison Haigh, associate, Buttress
- Richard Kelly, project director, Muse
- David Chilton, managing director, Rowlinson Construction
- Gareth Blunden, principal design manager, Willmott Dixon
- Sean Keyes, CEO, Sutcliffe
- Jeff Endean, director, Cast
- Chaired by Dan Whelan, deputy editor, Place North West
Key talking points
MMC has long been posited as a solution to many of the construction industry’s troubles and is an avenue that needs to be explored if we are serious about tackling the housing crisis.
Early engagement between developers and MMC providers is crucial – if MMC is not considered from the outset, it becomes difficult to implement later on in the process.
We have been in a housing crisis for decades and that will not change unless developers and housing providers give alternatives to traditional construction a fair crack of the whip.
The new government needs to get serious about MMC and provide the funding and certainty of pipeline that this sector requires.
MMC can save time, construction waste, disruption on site, and labour costs, as well as reduce overall project costs, but not enough is being done to extol these virtues and call for a new way of thinking.
For more from this roundtable discussion, you can simply watch the video at the top of this article or on the Place North West YouTube channel. Learn more about Mansell Building Solutions by visiting mansellbuild.co.uk.
