a.aa MMC M11 52pp Web

London overtaken by rest of Britain in housebuilding growth
London’s homebuilders have been outpaced by the rest of Great Britain as investment in housebuilding dropped to its lowest value in six years.
Residential contracts awarded in London in 2017 were 34% lower than the value awarded in 2016, which is in contrast to the majority of regions
outside of the capital that experienced growth.
Although London is the largest regional GB economy, and had £3.6 billion of residential contracts awarded in 2017, an increase in demand for new
homes is coming from areas such as Manchester, Birmingham, and Sheffield as they undergo city centre regeneration projects. Across all GB
regions, London came bottom for residential contracts growth, with overall values falling by 33.9% from 2016 to 2017.
Rebecca Larkin, Construction Products Association Senior Economist said “London has slipped from its position as a residential star performer as
the slowdown in inner and outer London housing markets appears to have cooled developer confidence. House prices in the capital have been
falling since the middle of 2017, but this is unlikely to ease affordability constraints. The average London house price is more than double that in
the North West, West Midlands and Yorkshire & Humber, and combined with stronger uptake of Help to Buy in these regions, is helping to
underpin regional housing demand.”
Inner-city building sites can
be an oasis of peace and
tranquillity
Volumetric Modular in-fill city homes are fast to install with minimum
of noise and disruption to the surrounding area.
Building sites are usually noisy, dirty and very disruptive to the
community in which they are located, so neighbours rarely welcome
them even when new housing is desperately needed. But it does not
have to be like that as Brian Maunder of pioneering construction
company Totally Modular Ltd explains:
“Volumetric construction is a technique in which houses are built
off-site and delivered as complete ready to go modules. They are
craned onto prepared foundations and connected to the utilities. In a
matter of hours, they are ready for occupation.
“As well as houses, blocks of flats can be built in exactly the same
way, with each flat being a module that can be stacked and arranged
in almost any configuration up to 11 storeys high (although currently
most projects are low rise). This is possible because all units are built
around an incredibly strong three-dimensional steel frame.
Modular village to be built in
Corby for London commuters
Groundworks have started on a new modular village in Corby,
Northants targeted at London commuters.
The 47 homes will be built at Priors Hall Park by modular specialist
Project Etopia who took over the site when a previous eco-homes
scheme stalled.
Etopia Corby will contain 31 houses and 16 apartments with a 4-bed
expected to sell for between £320,000 and £350,000.
Factory construction of exterior shells of the new homes will start in
February and the first four homes are due to be completed by the end
of March with each unit taking no more than six to eight weeks to build.
Joseph Daniels, CEO of Project Etopia, said "Corby is leading the way in
showing how villages of the future should be built. Modular building is
now so advanced, it is senseless to cling to bricks and mortar, which
takes longer to build and is far more expensive.
"Commuter villages like this offer younger would-be homeowners the
wage benefits of working in the capital but without the high property
costs, and Etopia Corby will be a model other councils can follow."
Construction output rises despite Brexit uncertainty
The Government must not be complacent about the damage a ‘no deal’ Brexit would cause amid positive signs of growth in the UK construction
industry, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).
Commenting on recent construction output figures published by the Office for National Statistics, Sarah McMonagle, Director of External Affairs at
the FMB, said “The UK construction sector grew by 2.1 per cent during September to November 2018 compared with the previous three months.
This is despite unparalleled levels of political uncertainty around the very real prospect of a ‘no deal’ scenario. However, we are urging the
Government not to allow these results to create a false sense of security. Since November, political uncertainty has cranked up and is increasing
every day. A growing and prosperous construction sector will be a distant memory if the Government allows the UK to crash out of the EU without
a deal in place.”
DfE shares plans for £2bn offsite schools framework
The government's Department for Education is planning an industry meeting to discuss its plans for a £2bn offsite schools framework.
The Department for Education (DfE) plans to set up a four-year framework for the delivery of schools by design for manufacture and assembly
and/or offsite methods. It will follow on from the DfE's existing component school frameworks and supplement the existing DfE construction
framework. The DfE anticipates, subject to consultation, that any new framework will be larger than the previous frameworks with a target to
deliver up to a 100 new school projects a year by 2023.
It will be based on a greater degree of standardisation and focused on a manufactured offsite solution, to improve quality and efficiency to deliver
programme and value savings.
It will also be open to a greater number of suppliers and different methods of offsite construction, including modular and portable buildings, kit
buildings and prefabricated componentry.
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