{"id":12158,"date":"2023-10-26T20:28:43","date_gmt":"2023-10-26T09:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/?p=12158"},"modified":"2024-10-21T20:27:31","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T10:27:31","slug":"why-housing-targets-have-no-chance-without-prefab-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/why-housing-targets-have-no-chance-without-prefab-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Housing Targets Have ‘No Chance’ Without More Prefab Support"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Governments have “zero chance” of meeting ambitious housing targets without significant investment in modular and prefabrication construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is according to Carl Leaver<\/a>, the chair of Goldman Sachs-backed TopHat, who will launch Europe’s largest 3D modular facility later this year.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giving evidence to peers on the UK Built Environment Committee, Mr Leaver argues that offsite construction can help hit targets as traditional construction firms struggle to find workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I would go far as to say that without category one modular, there is absolutely zero chance of building 300,000 homes in this country.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If you look at what’s happening in the employment universe of traditional construction, it is terrifying.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world has a significant shortage of construction workers<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

The construction industry must find 1 million additional workers in the US on top of the average hiring pace<\/a> to meet demand over the next two years alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Infrastructure Australia, industry’s demand will reach “unprecedented levels” by 2025, with labour shortages peaking “at a likely shortfall of 93,000 workers in early 2023 or 48% higher than projected supply.”<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demand for workers in New Zealand (50,000 shortfalls) and Canada (80,000 shortfalls) significantly stresses the reconstruction from natural disasters<\/a>, with more than 20% of New Zealand’s ageing construction force set to retire over the next five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the UK, Mr Leaver said that there are 400,000 fewer workers in UK construction since the global financial crisis of 2008-09. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modular firms have argued that workers they take on in factories are often from outside the construction industry, trained and can add value to the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TopHat is building new houses for the UK housing associations, including Abri Group, which manages 35,000 homes and has 80,000 residents living in them. Here, Abri Group executives tour the TopHat factory in Derby. (Photo Credit: Supplied from LinkedIn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mr Leaver gave evidence as part of an inquiry on the future of modern construction methods (MMC) in the wake of several high-profile failures, specifically among firms in the category one volumetric space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our approach is quite different to other modular builders,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We have a timber-frame solution, which means that our whole-life embodied carbon is 83% less than a traditionally built brick home. We can also apply automation to our production methods to keep our costs down.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TopHat’s factory is forecast to produce enough prefabricated elements for 4,000 homes per year, compared to the 800 homes built from its Derby facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Excited to share the future of homebuilding and what will be coming soon to Corby! pic.twitter.com\/LKbaq3eQUc<\/a><\/p>— TopHat (@TopHatIO) June 26, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote>