Is the construction industry in crisis? England needs over 250,000 new homes each year but completed just 139,030 in the 12 months to June 2016. Affordable and social housing has the most acute shortage; but homes built for social rent fell to just under 10,000 in 2014-15.
Meanwhile, a study by Scape Group highlighted the need to build an additional 24,000 classrooms in England by 2020.
There is a stark challenge: how can the construction sector ramp up production capacity to deliver the homes and schools we need? The industry is already struggling to recruit enough good quality entrants to replace an ageing skilled workforce.
The Farmer Report challenged construction companies to innovate to thrive in the face of these realities. Changes won’t happen overnight; yet the crisis is already here.
It’s time for a realistic debate.
Can we build the homes and schools we desperately need using traditional construction methods and skills? Probably not.
The role of offsite construction needs to be recognised and planned for. Arguably, it might not just be an option, it may be the only deliverable solution.
Cost-wise, offsite is competitive with traditional techniques (even before you factor in how shortages may affect the cost of skilled labour). Construction timescales are shorter and dependable, and less influenced by weather and availability of trade skills or materials.
Clearly, a well-informed debate is needed urgently. So why did a recent BBC News feature chose to trivialise the topic by constantly referring to flat pack homes and include the inevitable (and lazy) footage of a post-war prefab? All very unhelpful.
Offsite construction using Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) is a high quality, highly cost effective and time efficient option. This can be a very efficient solution to beginning to tackle the additional classrooms and homes needed in England. Classroom construction using this method can create brand new schools or extend current schools causing minimal disruption to school children due to the amount that can be done offsite. The current housing shortage, lack of budget and energy efficiencies needed in England – this SIP solution could be the answer we’ve all been looking for to meet the agendas.
Manufacturers urgently need a ‘green light’ from government and local authorities that offsite techniques are part of the way forward. They can then expand production capacity with greater confidence. The forthcoming Housing White Paper would be a good opportunity to start.
The alternative is to hope that doing what we’ve always done will somehow meet the need.
