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UK LORDS INQUIRY OUTLINES OFFSITE CHALLENGES

CHALLENGES AROUND OPENING UP OFFSITE CONSTRUCTION TO GREATER OPPORTUNITIES FOR UPTAKE HAVE BEEN AIRED AS A HOUSE OF LORDS INQUIRY GETS UNDERWAY IN THE UK.

With oral evidence to the Lords Science and Technology Committee Inquiry into Offsite Construction commencing in April, “trust” and “evidence” are proving important factors in encouraging the adoption of offsite in the UK.

As reported by UK title Construction News, Greater London Authority Assistant Director Jamie Ratcliff indicated to the committee that a lack of trust and an aversion to partnerships and collaboration in the UK construction industry were hindering growth. Industry partners needed to foster a culture of working together at an early stage, he said.

Ratcliff also defended offsite methods from the implication that they used “untested technologies”.

“It’s tried and tested ways of building homes: timber frame, which has been around for thousands of years; steel frame, which has been around for 150 years; and concrete frame, which has been around for 125 years. They are not massively innovative things.”

Tim Carey, National Building Manager of contracting, residential development and property services firm Willmott Dixon, added that evidence would help communicate offsite’s benefits.

“We don’t collect enough output data on particular projects. It’s something we’re working on because if we’re asking [customers and end-users] to take an informed decision they need to be informed.”

Other topics discussed included gaining a proper understanding of the scale of the sector, which, aside from a number of larger suppliers and manufacturers, was still effectively a “cottage industry”. Another issue was quality, which could be addressed through the use of more controlled environments.

The Inquiry, driven by The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, has been sparked by evidence that, while the UK construction industry was worth nearly £100 billion to the UK economy in 2016, it suffers from poor productivity.

The inquiry’s remit is to consider the potential benefits of off-site construction and any drawbacks and obstacles to its wider use. It is also considering how government policy, particularly around public procurement, might need to change to encourage economically and environmentally sustainable practices that could facilitate off-site manufacture.

Areas of concern include the factors likely to influence clients, architects, design engineers, contractors and the supply chain to choose or not to choose off-site manufacturing. The inquiry is also examining to what extent the benefits of standardisation and factory manufacture can be realised without impeding the role of architecture and design. Another area of interest is the role of R&D in optimising the benefits of off-site manufacture.■


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