46 | JANUARY 2018
Business
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Infrastructure boost
into mega projetcs
Overall construction new orders
increased in value reaching £7.4 billion
before Christmas, the highest figure
for two years. The trend had continued
for the fourth month in a row, and was
underpinned by the commissioning of the
major £2.25 billion TransPennine Upgrade
from Stalybridge to Leeds project.
FACTORY-BUILT
HOMES – ARE THEY
THE ANSWER?
London needs 50,000 new
homes a year to meet its growing
needs. To reach this target, an
innovative approach is vital. In
the 1970s, factory-built housing
contributed significantly to supply.
The new model of factory manu-
factured homes is light years away
from this.
Today’s builders and manu-
facturers are producing offsite
manufactured homes (OSM), char-
acterised by high quality, digital
design, precision engineering and
eco-efficient performance.
• The wide variety of homes
that OSM now produces can
meet the needs of families
with children, older people
and single households. The
business model is particularly
suitable for rental accommo-
dation at all income levels.
• Their shallow foundations,
lightweight construction and
acoustic performance lend
themselves to constrained
sites.
• OSM buildings can be built
and occupied in half the time
of conventional buildings,
requiring fewer vehicles to
transport materials to site.
On behalf of the London Assem-
bly Planning Committee, Nicky
Gavron AM has published the
report ‘Designed, sealed, deliv-
ered: The contribution of offsite
manufactured homes to solving
London’s housing crisis’. The
report’s recommendations to the
Mayor include:
• Provide clear and strong lead-
ership in raising the aware-
ness of OSM’s potential.
• Work towards defining and
adopting a Manufactured
Housing Design Code.
• Look at the potential of using
TfL-owned land to stimulate
the OSM sector.
• Set up a dedicated OSM-spe-
cific procurement framework
for London.
Nicky Gavron AM, report author,
said:
“Meeting London’s housebuild-
ing target is a huge task and tradi-
tional construction techniques will
only take us so far. Offsite Manu-
factured Housing is an innovative,
forward-looking and exciting way
to close the gap. These buildings
are high quality and outstanding
in terms of performance. Their
construction is more environ-
mentally-friendly than traditional
construction methods and they are
a far cry from their prefabricated
predecessors. Few will disagree
that using vacant public land to
build homes quickly and with less
pollution and disruption could be
great news for London, tailored to
demands at every price point.
“The lack of a single design
standard or mass market demand
has held back the sector’s growth.
This is a once in a generation
opportunity to work collabora-
tively with investors, developers
and policy makers at a time where
experts, central and local govern-
ment are all calling for the same
thing to happen. The Mayor is
ideally placed to respond to the
report’s recommendations and call
to action.”
Mark Farmer, Chief Executive
of Cast Consultancy and author of
the Farmer Review, said:
“This timely report sends an
unequivocal message to the Mayor
of London that now is the time to
show strong political leadership to
establish a mainstream precision
manufactured housing market
in the capital. It could underpin
ambitions not just for housing, but
wider economic growth.”
The Economic & Construc-
tion Market Review from industry
analysts Barbour ABI, highlighted
the levels of construction contract
values awarded in November
across Great Britain. Infrastructure
was the dominant sector of the
month, totalling £3.7 billion based
on a three-month average and is
the highest post-recession figure,
majorly influenced by the afore-
mentioned TransPennine upgrade,
which is more than seven times
the value of the next largest infra-
structure contract on the month.
Across the industry, project
numbers were up in November
by 8.3% per cent when compared
to the previous month, contin-
uing the recent trend. Outside
of infrastructure, only medical
and health construction saw an
increase in contract value on the
month - albeit a small growth
of 1.4 per cent. The remaining
sectors struggled in November,
with commercial construction
producing its lowest figures for
almost five years and residential
building decreasing for the third
month in a row, posting its lowest
value total so far for 2017. The
remaining sectors of industrial,
education and hotel, leisure and
sport construction all saw small
declines in November.
Regionally, it was Yorkshire and
Humber that took the top spot
away from London with 38% of the
total value of construction contracts
in November. In second place was
the North West, thanks largely to
two large infrastructure projects,
the Lostock Energy from Waste
facility and Ince Resource Recovery
Park waste facility, with a value of
£300 & £130 million respectively.
Commenting on the figures,
Michael Dall, Lead Economist at
Barbour ABI, said: “November wit-
nessed an increase in infrastruc-
ture figures of 177% compared to
last year, providing the industry
with a much-needed boost for the
third month in a row after a previ-
ously quiet 2017. With the residen-
tial sector continuing to decline
and other sectors in an ongoing
struggle, the commissioning of
these large infrastructure projects
have come at the right time. As
the Brexit uncertainty continues to
loom over construction, investors
and industry figures can feel as-
sured knowing that ‘mega projects’
and large value developments are
still being commissioned.”
www.barbour-abi.com