Collaborative working will help solve our Housing Crisis

Never underestimate anybody, we as humans judge, ‘over analyse’ (particularly the British) and predict way too much. We all know the answers to our problems as extremely bright ‘beings’ but ultimately live in fear of the truth and most avoid change.

The UK has a tremendous opportunity to put things right and solve our housing crisis. No more excuses! We have the most incredible dedicated workforce, but more so potentially who need to be lead not channeled in to the wrong direction. I’m proud to be British, a Patriot but at the same time realistic - we have become somewhat arrogant, living in the colonial past, not as productive as the rest but with the right leadership in the industry and government we could change this easily.

We need to adopt collaborative working not point scoring - unite, accept & deliver together

Modern Methods of Construction evidently adds significant value to the construction sector but why the slow uptake in the UK? Not one size or method fits all, I’m not for one minute suggesting everything is built using 3D Volumetric - utilise many technologies with all sorts of materials including elements, pods and traditional build.

Key issues:

1. Lack of education and understanding of the actual Off-Site Manufacturing market particularly ‘production capacity’ wise and lack of strong relationships in place - perhaps ‘some’ out of touch & generally out of date and not willing to learn new tricks
2. Lack of investment by UK government and a poor attempt at apprenticeships 
3. Pockets of arrogance and a ‘know it all’ attitude 
4. Too comfortable and risk adverse - not all willing to explore current capabilities in the market
5. Some not able to comprehend the sheer additional benefits - stakeholders all want different things from a project - investors generally want quality and speed therefore cost savings (ROI) - contractors have huge responsibilities including health & safety and contracts are riddled with challenging clauses that will trip them up at any moment if they are not careful. It’s a disaster waiting to happen to taking on what they consider new risk is not viable it’s easier to stick to the way they have always done it which is understandable to a degree. Margins too slim for error 
6. Fear of change, risk and previous bad experiences working with the wrong companies who failed to deliver - far too quick to judge based on very little experience and very bad procurement choices with little or correct effective due diligence. Choosing local delivery partners requires careful planning
7. OSM's over and aggressively marketing themselves and therefore unable to deliver production capacity to clients despite tendering successfully
8. Local Authorities lack of efficiency and red tape holding them back - partly their own fault partly not - radical changes promised - far more transparency than ever before and willingness to make things happen for some LA’s however still major stumbling blocks and hurdles internally to overcome 

Boris Johnson our PM made a pledge to “Build Build Build” recently but how can he and his government deliver without;

Solution:

1. Billions of outside investment. Billionaire John Caudwell reckons up to ￡1Trillion needed to get our country on track. We, ACE, have investors from Germany ‘chomping at the bit’ to invest in to Affordable & Senior Living - we are currently searching for appropriate sites and would appreciate more collaboration from LA’s 
2. State of the Art Off-Site Manufacturing (OSM) - only 4-5 exist in the UK unfortunately and all booked up production capacity wise so little choice but to look outside the UK which is a great shame considering mass unemployment increasing (some say over 4 million) with so many willing young people who really do want to work and add value to our community - never under estimate the young indeed nor the old, and wise
3. Huge investment money and time wise in to apprenticeship programs including academies
4. The right ‘attitude’ and acceptance by the whole UK construction industry finally
5. Eradicate once and for all bad practice including pockets of corruption/incentives which exist - ouch did I really say this? You bet! The UK acts like every other country has corruption but not us
6. Education and sharing of best practice and robust genuine ‘collaboration’ with overseas MMC world leaders who are more than happy to be open and share knowledge
7. Open minds and willingness to learn - must come from the top down - leaders need to lead by example