Create communities not barriers!
Hat's off to our UK government and NHS teams for achieving such high level success with 12 million vaccinations which is 16% of our population. It just goes to show what we as a nation are capable of achieving, a record breaking target achieved higher 'per population per head' than any other country in Europe! Amazing news.
With only roughly 9% of new houses built last year using Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) our record for house building of late is a poor reminder of failure, it is now time to revolutionise our construction sector, create not only homes but mass employment opportunities. The government target of building over 3 million homes over 10 years will not happen unless we embrace radical change now. Possibly if you ask some politicians to the right they will tell you this 'will happen' and everything is absolutely fine and a reminder of how much investment they have made in UK Off-Site Manufacturing (OSM). The reality is we are struggling with lack of home-grown delivery experience, completed court cases, impending court cases, management issues and huge losses for some albeit backed by huge investment. Being on the ground ourselves we are well aware of payment issues, court cases (won) and horror stories for 'some' with regards to Health & Safety. Not saying no success rate, there are plenty of fantastic projects completed, yet far more awarded and yet to be completed using homegrown OSM. Awarding contracts is one thing, delivery is another but let's remain positive and presume everything goes to plan with limited experience in OSM mass roll-out.
The last time we did it we created over 70 years ago, Sir Winston Churchills (God Bless him) dream using what now are considered sub-standard products, poor insulation etc yet some of which still stand today. He and his government delivered housing but now we have far more to build, to offer and deliver, quality homes that are built to last on mass modern scale for our growing population.
Boris now has a dream, to 'Build Build Build' - the reality is the UK construction sector is outdated...broken and cannot do this alone
Having visited 50 of the worlds best state of the art Modular factories in the world it drives us to promote a better way of working to achieve a solution to conquer our housing crisis.
- Collaborate with overseas proven OSM experts who have decades of experience building highest quality homes working with local delivery partners. Exchange information, learn from each other, unite.
- Educate our capable workforce and create proficient training programmes including apprenticeships and academies which to date we have failed at. Invest not just money but time in to learning how to duplicate how the Baltic States, Germany, Italy's vast contribution to modern methods of construction to Scandinavia alone.
- Break down the barriers to change including lack of education, sheer nepotism and control. Put our governments 'words in to action' not false hopes.
The UK has some fantastic OSM's and at the same time overseas companies must not make huge assumptions we do not have quality workforce, we have incredible talent and a history to prove the best engineers in the world, the key issue has been lack of investment for decades from government and lack of understanding by many in the construction sector what MMC represents. We know of plenty of overseas factories that have failed entering the UK which is a mix of lack of collaboration with local delivery partners, lack of understanding culture wise, 'anti-overseas', mass assumptions, mis-judgement and bad luck for all. We also know of others that have provide a perfect solution which are not so interesting to report in press - bad news is far more exciting to report. Some may consider Britain as the future to provide its' own OSM factories however we need to build houses now, considering the time to build a fully operational factory can take years. A healthy mix of homegrown and overseas solutions creates balance and opportunities for all.
Building materials is a major issue, we ourselves have been able ourselves to provide construction timber to major UK organisations - timber from abroad including purchase from Russia, Baltic States now increasing from more countries including Slovenia, Germany and hopefully if we can come to a trade agreement Bosnia Herzegovina and others these coming months to bolster supply.
With effective collaboration, investment and focus we can cure this dreaded crisis, uniting, sharing experience, and adhering to UK standards & procedures to put our nation back in to a position of respectful power. Local authorities are part of this huge problem and need to contribute to our success in housing our nation - many questions remain unanswered the lack of delivery and cohesion warranted despite some improvement.
Pockets of success do not represent overall success.
Inbox me for our solution on Affordable Housing and MMC support - and my last blog creating success for 2021.