Councils across the UK have abandoned projects involving modern methods of construction (MMC) amid issues around cost and quality, a UK parliamentary committee has heard.<\/p>\n
Many councils now have a \u201cpretty negative view\u201d of MMC projects and have done away with them entirely, Anna Clarke, director of policy and public affairs at the Housing Forum, said in an evidence session in Westminster on Tuesday (4 March).<\/p>\n
In a meeting she attended on Monday (3 March) with councils,<\/span>\u00a0\u201calmost all\u201d said they had tried MMC projects and would not try them again, Clarke told the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee.<\/p>\n Of particular concern was the higher costs associated with MMC projects. But Clarke also said councils did not find MMC projects were of a higher quality than traditional builds, as had been promised.<\/p>\n \u201cIn theory, you can control quality in factories, [but] that wasn\u2019t their experience on the ground,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of that quality issue was around the interface between the unit and the groundworks and how it plugs in effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n She also flagged concerns around the high number of MMC firms that had gone bust in recent years, which had made a lot of councils \u201cnervous\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThey said, \u2018we\u2019ve been bitten, we\u2019re not doing that again\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Despite a strong start from MMC firms, some of the biggest names in the business have stopped using MMC methods, or collapsed into administration altogether.<\/p>\n In October, TopHat announced it would wind down its modular housing operations<\/a>, weeks after modular specialist ModPods International appointed administrators<\/a>.<\/p>\n Urban Splash House<\/a>, Ilke Homes<\/a> and Caledonian Modular<\/a> also failed in recent years.<\/p>\n But Clarke said she sees a future for modular homes in the years beyond this Parliament, particularly as plans for new towns start to move forward.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re building at scale, and you\u2019re building a large amount of houses that are quite similar, and you\u2019re prepared to be reasonably flexible about them not being bespoke, there\u2019s a better way forward then,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Mark Reynolds, co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council and chairman at Mace<\/a>, told the committee that MMC could provide the construction and property sectors with \u201ca great opportunity\u201d.<\/p>\n But he argued that a \u201cguaranteed workload for a guaranteed period\u201d is key to making MMC successful.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have to fill that factory 24\/7 in order to be productive and efficient,\u201d he said, adding that if the volume of work fluctuates, MMC firms can face difficulties.<\/p>\n