Offsite Housing Construction boosted by Investment from Major Housebuilder

It's great to see that Housebuilder Persimmon Homes and insurance Company Aviva have pledged £70 Million investment in Top Hat, the modular house-builders currently based in Derbyshire but it seems now expanding to Corby. the principal of off-site house building is admirable and following our recent post regarding the lack of on-site building skills in the construction sector, factory building houses delivered to site and erected in a very short time and almost complete must be part of the solution. The houses can be built in a clean, dry, warm and safe environment utilising different skills and careers that might be more attractive to younger people.

The challenges of off-site are still very much real, designs of rooms and spaces can be be limited by the size of unit to be transported by lorry, plastered internal finishes are very difficult to achieve and are what we all understand for our homes, and there can be problems with insuring these homes which are relatively new technology to the housing industry. There is a place for these units, in particular in the smaller affordable housing schemes, albeit when we last checked the construction costs are well above those of traditional construction, and so financially, in current times the only real advantage to these schemes are consistency of build finish and the fact that they can be delivered in a very short timer.

it is important to embrace these modern methods of construction (MMC) and the major investors involved in supporting Top Hat ensure that they will succeed, but it also needs a seed-change in what we believe are acceptable alternative internal finishes and standard room sizes in our homes.