Report supports expansion of modular housing

ONE in 60 new homes in the UK this year are expected to have been built entirely in a factory.

According to the modular homes trade association, Make UK Modular, it is expected that factory-built homes will constitute ten per cent of the UK’s housebuilding programme in three years’ time.

In a report issued here, by the trade association, several claims are made, including:

• Modular homes cost 55 per cent less to heat than the average UK home and 32 per cent less than traditional new-builds, delivering savings of up to £800 a year for a three-bedroomed family home;

• Modular homes are built 50 per cent faster to make from start to finish than bricks-and-mortar homes;

• Building with modular can halve emissions when building a home, cutting the amount of CO2 produced as a result of construction by up to 83 per cent;

• Modular manufacturers have already built factories in post-industrial provincial towns or cities, creating over 3,000 jobs, and delivering £700m of investment to low-growth, low employment areas;

• Modular home construction is both more efficient and kinder to the environment – with substantially less waste, 90 per cent down on materials wastage than traditional builds; and

• Modular building heavily reduces the amount of transport access needed for building sites, with 80 per cent fewer vehicle movements to sites and, therefore, far less local disruption and pollution of the environment.

Make UK Modular is urging several actions from government, including fast-tracking the planning route for modular homes and commit to using modular for 20 per cent of its affordable housing programme “to double new jobs overnight”.

Pictured: Legal & General Modular Homes, Leeds, Picture credit: Legal & General