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Homes England has awarded £38.2m to six councils to help build 2,072 homes using modern methods of construction (MMC).
The allocations are the latest through the government’s £350m Local Authority Accelerated Construction programme, used to encourage MMC, which the government has said can increase the speed of housebuilding by 40%.
The money will be used to progress infrastructure projects associated with housing schemes across 13 sites. Councils will be encouraged to use local small and medium-sized enterprises as well as MMC.
It comes as housing minister Esther McVey said on a visit to Sheffield that she wanted to see a new ‘centre of excellence’ for MMC in Northern England.
Speaking at Factory 2050, part of the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, Ms McVey said: “The North of England has the potential to be the construction capital of the country for this new technology, and we need to fully embrace this.”
She added: “We must invest in this new technology. It’s as simple as that.
“The benefits are clear. Some modular homes can be built in a factory over a week and assembled on site in a day.
“Industry has told us some homes built using modern methods can have 80% fewer defects and heating bills up to 70% lower.”
She said the MMC industry could become worth £40bn “if we get it right” and would need a new workforce trained to manufacture homes offsite.
Nick Walkley, chief executive of Homes England, said: “Homes England sees enormous benefits to MMC – from allowing high-quality homes to be built more quickly to addressing labour and skills shortages and improving energy efficiency – so it’s vital that there is continued investment in it.”
Mark Farmer, chair of the MMC Working Group, welcomed government support for a Northern centre of excellence and said the UK had “a fantastic opportunity to become a true world leader in the advanced manufacturing of new homes”.
Cheshire West and Chester; Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole; North Somerset; Hastings; Hull; and Bristol councils have been handed funding in today’s allocations.
Sites set to benefit include Locking Parklands in Weston-super-Mare, where North Somerset Council has been given £9.8m to fund infrastructure for 425 new homes, of which at least 30% will be affordable.
The new awards to councils under the Local Authority Accelerated Construction programme are: