DLUHC confirms £10m MMC taskforce that has never met is no longer needed

Mr Gove had explained that the taskforce was announced “under the last prime minister but two”, but since then changes both of prime minister and of personnel at DLUHC meant that “other issues have loomed larger”.

Since then, Mr Gove said there has been “a greater level of grassroots leadership” and more leadership demonstrated by the sector with the establishment of the trade body Offsite Homes Alliance.

“It is not the case that we have neglected the sector,” he added.

In its written evidence to the Lords committee, DLUHC said that the taskforce grew out of an MMC working group, launched in 2017 and led by MMC champion Mark Farmer, which “achieved its objectives and did not reconvene”.

Mark Farmer was approached for comment.

Since the taskforce was announced with £10m of seed funding, collaboration groups and trade bodies had formed to advocate for MMC, it said. The industry has also seen the emergence of specialist MMC advisors, who are providing consultancy to clients new to MMC.

These developments have “subsumed much of the work the taskforce was envisaged to deliver”, DLUHC said. “We do not believe it necessary for the government to convene a taskforce at this stage given the industry-led approaches being adopted.”

Modular house builder TopHat had welcomed the taskforce when it was announced. Carl Leaver, chair of TopHat, told Inside Housing: “Michael Gove argues that the MMC taskforce is not necessary because other representative groups have emerged. He is wrong.”

The UK builds housing “largely in the same way as it has done for centuries”, he said, and “without agitation from government the market will continue to resist change”.

He said government was “devoid of a strategy” to address the shortage of construction workers.

“Adding construction roles to the shortage occupation list (which, itself, will drive further demand for housing) and expecting the market to correct by itself is entirely unrealistic,” he insisted.

“Volumetric modular is the only form of construction that can add capacity to the market because it draws labour from a different pool to traditional construction – but it requires a co-ordinated and unwavering approach from government. Everything else is papering over a canyon.”

In January, the Lords committee published a report saying the government’s approach to MMC was in “disarray” and “simply throwing money at the sector hasn’t worked”.

An additional ask of the committee was for officials to be more transparent about their strategy to encourage the use of MMC.

However, on Monday Homes England refused to publish funding per unit grant data on projects using MMC as it believes doing so could cause reputational damage and inflate prices.

Daniel Paterson, director of government affairs at trade body Make UK Modular, said the original business case developed for an MMC taskforce is “out of date”.

He said that modular businesses and member organisations “have already completed the work that the taskforce was set up to achieve”, and called for the “redundant taskforce funds” to be allocated to help the industry “develop supply chains and stimulate expansion” in a similar way as was achieved with the wind turbines and aerospace industries. 

He continued: “Regrettably, the fact that funds have not been reallocated to a proactive policy is a missed opportunity to improve the productivity of the construction industry, address the gaping skills chasm in construction and help do something concrete to provide the homes that our country badly needs.”