Saving money in the housing crisis

Will behaviour change increase towards adopting modular construction which some predict will save the UK significant funding in council house buildings or perhaps even with the NHS ?

At our October forum we invited modular construction and cross-laminated timber expert and architect, Andrew Waugh to talk about his modular installation at the V&A called 'MultiPly' for this year's London Design Festival. Andrew said his company Waugh Thistleton had been working on and researching the benefits of modular construction for 15 years now and using tulip hardwood from the US, homes could now be built on a large scale with a low carbon footprint and cheaply.

Sue Foster, Strategic Director, Neighbourhoods and Growth at Lambeth Council stated during the panel that she was really interested in seeing whether modular construction could produce cheaper housing costs both for long term build and shorter term needs. The 500 million pound fund that she used to have for housing in the borough she said has all but dried up and alternative methods of building more cheaply were essential. Can modular and offsite construction provide flexibility, so that housing can be moved from site to site she questioned?

Mauro Burgio, Director at Brydenwood, said if modular methods could be used to build hospitals not only in the private sector but for the NHS, that would be a great saving on budgets. The private hospital that the firm designed for Reading was 80% modular and 30% cheaper than the previous building providing better space and patient experience.