Materials and supply was the subject of The Housing Forum‘s second webinar in its MMC series, held on the 28th July. Given the current challenges surrounding construction skills and the supply of building materials, could MMC take a wider role in supporting housing supply?
The high demand for building materials and construction skills is well evidenced through reduced availability, supply shortages and delays leading to increased costs in many critical construction products. A combination of factors both globally and in the UK are affecting repairs, maintenance and new-build housing programmes.
The Housing Forum’s webinar concluded that more UK manufactured product including MMC is the best solution. Clients can play a wider role in supporting a robust supply chain through forward visibility of supply and by working with and monitoring supply chains to more effectively plan ahead.
The speaker panel comprising John Murray, from consultants Airey Miller Partnership, Gerraint Oakley, from housing association, Platform Housing Group, and Suriya Edwards from legal and business advisers, Foot Anstey LLP addressed the key issues and the need for collaboration across developers, housing associations, local authorities and right through the supply chain to resolve supply chain issues and maximise the use of MMC.
Stephen Teagle, Chair of The Housing Forum reiterated the speakers comments and urged ‘Pragmatic approaches and non adversarial solutions are the way forward. An open dialogue through the whole supply chain is essential’.
The speakers agreed that MMC offers a high skilled environment to attract the next generation of apprentices to overcome the very low percentage of younger people who currently consider a career in construction.
Waste management of materials, reuse of materials and its contribution to a circular economy were all factors which supported greater adoption of MMC.
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