Could Modular Homes be the answer to the Housing Crisis?

The social housing shortage isn’t a looming crisis, a distant threat that will become a problem if we fail to act. We’re already living in it, the UK is currently in the middle a huge social housing crisis and the cause is very simple: for too long, we haven’t built enough homes. This isn’t a new problem. Its roots stretch back decades, with the building of social housing well below what was needed under previous governments.

Since the 1970s, the number of council houses built has been nowhere near the level required to keep up with the population growth. This isn’t because there’s not enough space, or because the country is “full”, only less than 15% per cent of the land in the UK has been built on and with 1.15 million households on local authority, waiting lists the housing shortage is not something which cannot be ignored any longer.

Tackling the housing shortage won’t be easy for councils and housing associations with the current skills shortage being just one of the problems they face. In terms of ‘land’ making the most of surplus land which is already in public ownership will ease the pressure and the Government has an ambition to release surplus public land with capacity for 160,000 homes during the next 2 years.

The house building industry has been slow to modernise and make use of more efficient and faster ways of building. This can be changed by making greater use of modern methods of construction.

Modular homes are built in a factory environment in sections and then transported to the construction site. There, they are built and installed by professional installers. In addition, homes constructed offsite can be built up to 30% more quickly than traditional methods and with a potential 25% reduction in costs. They are high quality, reliable, and can be highly energy efficient and they require fewer people on site, helping to mitigate the skills shortage.