The right 'V' wrong conclusions of UK modular construction

HALF FULL: Progress in business is established with consideration for the very latest proven & deliverable technology. Speed, quality, people, risk elimination, health & safety, cost & production efficiency/capacity is the key to success when it comes to Off-Site construction delivery;

• Investors & Mortgage companies are far more engaged the past few years since the modular evolution, and at the last count a year ago at least 25 UK mortgage companies positive about modular construction having seen projects completed and by educating themselves. The key issue was a lack of completed successful modular developments until recently including major projects such as East Croydons worlds tallest modular tower
• Government are far more supportive and serious including Homes England incorporating Modular in to development schemes and with some we have heard are insistent on using MMC otherwise 'no go'. With the new government target to create 1 Million homes in 5 years using traditional construction cannot be the solution alone. If our government relax the rules with greenbelt more houses can be built therefore a step further solving our housing crisis
• Student accommodation (now valued at ￡50+ Billion by Knight Frank) is ideal for various forms of modular construction be it Volumetric or Elements, where speed and efficiency is paramount - it's all about 'Bums in Beds' - and also ideal for a less 'heated' Co-Living & BTR market (including hotels) is increasing rapidly allowing people to be housed effectively using sustainable solutions
• Local Authorities using MMC throughout the country keen to explore the virtues remaining very much open minded on the basis it is very much 'horses for courses' adopting various methods of modular including hybrid & volumetric systems depending on a variety of factors suites to the site & geographically cost wise
• It's about collaboration with UK delivery partners utilising skill base and tapping in to unlimited overseas supply chain. The UK modular sector is growing with 4 main players and others seeking opportunity, however overseas OSM's are far larger, successful, cash rich & decades ahead way past Prototypes. It shouldn't be a competition, it's about delivery, working with likeminded professionals and proven international expertise to deliver housing, to the benefit of the people. Incorporate UK delivery partners aside of Architects, Engineers, Project Managers & investment partners alongside overseas OSM's
• Modular cost doesn't exist - even RICS haven't nailed the true cost of OSM as yet, on the basis it's all down to production capacity of a factory who will approach costs accordingly. Asset managers, contractors, developers & investors rely upon statistics for reliable data. However we are very happy to give cost indications for clients having met 50 OSM's

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There are still a 'minority' of what are known as 'Blockers' that don't wish to see MMC take off, who have their own personal reasons based on perhaps lack of education, experience & personal agendas. Mark Farmer's report on a broken construction industry highlights that either we must Modernise or Die:

• Mortgage companies don't like Modular. This is totally inaccurate and comes under the Blocker's lack of education, personal agenda or perhaps isolated experience. Gossip that mortgage companies won't support Modular is unfounded
• Modular is just prefab (back in the 1940's a popular way of housing people which had major faults) and will never take off in the UK like many other countries - why? because of their personal approach 'blocking' new technology. Modern day Modular is a proven system, highly technically advanced in many other countries outside the UK using a variety of systems to suit various environments naturally - sometimes suitable for developments and sometimes not depending. De-risking construction and Health & Safety is more than doable and should not be used as an excuse not to engage
• Modular should be cheaper? Why? How can it be better quality, faster, safer, better for the environment & cheaper? Not possible or fair and quite frankly ridiculous thought process surely? Modular is mostly no cheaper materials wise and in fact using volumetric is more expensive but it will save program time (for the right projects) and therefore far better IRR for investors. Consider the cost of housing people in the UK on a temporary basis, it is costing us Billions of pounds.
• Up to 50-70% payment required up front is a problem - whilst this is a challenge there are ways to negotiate a more comfortable deal with the use of instruments and indeed consideration should be made for joint ventures tying the OSM in to the development deal sharing risk. We know of plenty of investors happy to take calculated or shared risk and open to ideas
• What if the factory goes under? what about if the contractor goes under and any other supplier? as they do regularly as well as developers, top due diligence is normal practice before engaging any partner, the chances of an overseas factory going under are slim and if they did with so many live credible contracts in place the chances of a bank or investor not coming forward are highly unlikely. UK facade companies have trend of going under yet business still continues - recently FGS filing administration is very sad to see but there are reasons
• There have been problems in the UK using modular - please tell me a construction project that hasn't had a problem be it traditional or modular? Bad news of 'isolated' modular jobs travels fast, there are far more success stories than disasters using any system. The Blocker's contribution on social media is to look for an opportunity to pick holes where they have zero value added uneducated contribution to what is a highly sophisticated sector, making negative comments creating short lived media exposure for themselves with 15 minutes of fame. It's really very sad this 'minority' have not kept up to date.