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Partner selected for new social housing offsite construction framework
An alliance of housing associations working to increase the use of modern methods of construction (MMC) in the social housing sector has selected a partner to develop a framework for offsite manufacturing.
Building Better, an alliance of 25 housing associations backed by the National Housing Federation (NHF), has selected Procurement for Housing (PfH) to develop the framework with the aiming of build at least 500 homes.
PfH was selected following a competitive tender process and will start work immediately.
The framework will be informed by Building Better’s research, including more than 100 interviews with landlords and residents, analysis of the latest offsite innovations, and learning from previous projects.
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Building Better was set up in 2018 through the NHF’s Greenhouse innovation programme. Its members include Metropolitan Thames Valley, LiveWest, bpha and Nottingham Community Housing Association.
Offsite manufacturing currently only represents around 3% of the UK construction market. It is generally understood that a higher level of demand is needed to sustain factories and reduce unit prices.
The framework is intended to develop strong partnerships between the social housing sector and supply chain, create value for money for social landlords, and offer a solution that helps housing providers to build properties with high energy-efficiency.
Helen Greig, project director at Building Better, said: “We wanted a procurement partner with a strong understanding of delivering complicated frameworks that also had experience in MMC.
“PfH has a loyal membership-base of more than 900 housing providers, and a strong understanding of the issues facing the sector and how to overcome challenges through collaborative procurement.
“We’re looking forward to working with PfH so we can raise the bar around MMC in the social housing sector and create a framework that delivers on quality as well as price.”
Steve Malone, managing director of PfH, said: “One of the biggest challenges around offsite construction has been that social landlords often express an interest and there are small developments but you need a regular, consistent flow of work, in a standardised format, to make offsite construction economically viable.
“We’ve always known that offsite construction has to be demand-led, not framework-led, to work in social housing.
“Our collaboration with Building Better is all about harnessing demand in the sector and shifting modern methods of construction from a cottage industry to the mainstream.”
