Realising the benefits of modern methods of construction
Project Overview
We are a Board Member on ‘Building Better’, a consortium of housing associations working together to realise the benefits of modern methods of construction (MMC), an innovative way embracing a range of offsite manufacturing and onsite techniques that provide alternatives to traditional house building.
The consortium comprises housing associations who have the vision, ambition and imagination to look beyond traditionally built homes and look for new ways to help achieve the scale and quality of the homes the country needs.
Using their collective purchasing power, the consortium is working with a procurement platform to establish a framework of the best offsite manufacturers for housing associations, at a price that works.
Paul Mullane, Halton Housing’s Director of Development and Growth represents Halton Housing on the Building Better Board.
Why did we get involved?
Halton Housing has piloted two developments using MMC in the last five years, delivering 12 homes. Much was learned from these developments including cost and pace of build compared to traditional building methods, skills required, safety performance, snagging and defect issues, construction wastage, energy efficiency performance and post-occupation performance. Halton Housing is now looking to take these lessons and convert them into future schemes.
Who’s involved?
Supported by the National Housing Federation, Building Better brings together housing associations to share ambitions, risk, resources and knowledge whilst retaining individuality and developing offsite solutions that work for the affordable housing sector.
Benefits & Outcomes
Building the homes the country needs is a priority for the Government. We aim to deliver 1000 new homes by 2022. MMC offers enormous potential to not only accelerate this work but to deliver better quality homes too.
Through collaboration and standardisation, we can overcome the challenges of supply and design by combining housing association pipelines to leverage the benefits offered by offsite manufacturing techniques.
Advantages of MMC include faster construction, fewer defects, and reductions in energy use and waste.
