MMC for Affordable Housing Developers

If ever there was a time and a need to embrace more productive construction methods, that time is now.

Modern methods of construction (MMC), the catch-all phrase for non-traditional means of building, including major housing elements produced off site in factories, is not a new concept.

As well as being associated with post-war housing development it was strongly advocated by Sir John Egan in his 1998 report Rethinking Construction, which suggested that the industry as a whole is under-achieving, and called for “dramatic improvements”.

Some of the key drivers for the adoption of MMC have converged in recent years and they now make MMC a feasible, attractive and efficient option for the residential sector.

The main factors and drivers are:

Political and regulatory

• A greater onus on building safety and accountability in the new regulatory regime being introduced by government following the review from Dame Judith Hackitt of the Grenfell fire: MMC can provide both.
• Government’s commitment to 300,000 homes a year: MMC offers speed and efficiency in a time of labour shortages.
• Renewed political focus on the quality of
  new build homes following an outcry from the public and MPs about shoddy workmanship: quality and precision can be higher in factory- built homes.

Economic and social pressures

• The need for greater productivity in construction.
• An ageing, shrinking construction workforce, exacerbated by the impact of Brexit and
  the drift to other markets of labour from Eastern Europe.
• The arrival of new institutional investor entrants into the residential market who are typically private landlords in the sector for the long term, looking to build out developments in single phases, rather than phased over time. This trend plays to the strengths of MMC.

Technological advances

• Advances in digital technologies, such as building information modelling (BIM), are delivering increasing efficiency and flexibility, creating manufacturing blueprints from architects’ designs.

What has always been important to most clients is the end product of a building which meets employers’ requirements and building regulations, and is delivered at the right time and the right price. The actual construction method is often of less concern as long as the end product comes with a warranty and can be used as loan security.

There are now very good reasons why this client mind-set is changing. Effective use of MMC offers the following additional benefits to the client:

• It can be delivered more quickly than traditional construction, sometimes removing as much as 12 months from a build programme. This allows rents and sales to be collected earlier and has a positive impact on cashflow.
• Disruption to local residents is minimised, thanks to fewer deliveries on site over a shorter period of time.
• More of the build than with traditional methods is carried out under factory conditions so quality is consistent and defects can be minimised.
  This reduces the building’s maintenance costs.
• As-built thermal performance is improved, producing more sustainable buildings and lower energy bills for residents.

Whatever route an organisation chooses, in order to get the benefits of MMC, it has to be prepared to do things differently. This means change and that can be daunting. This guide will help with that change.

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