Off-site manufacturing got a massive shot in the arm this week, with the news that a regional development agency is pressing housebuilders to set up enough factories to produce "tens of thousands" of prefab homes.

Sir Anthony Dunnett, chief executive of the South-east England Development Agency, has held talks over the past year with a number of housebuilders to gauge interest in constructing OSM factories in the South-east to meetdeputy prime minister John Prescott's call last July for 200,000 extra homes.

Dunnett said: "We will be the first region to create joint mechanism with housebuilders to look at how to deliver OSM housing in the heart of where houses are being built – especially in the four growth areas."

He said he hoped the combination of new factories and training in OSM building techniques, to be provided by universities in the region, would result in hundreds of jobs being created and sustained to meet demand for new housing in the South-east.

Three of the government's four growth areas fall within SEEDA's remit. For instance, Ashford in Kent is set to double in size by 2031 – an extra 40,000 homes.

Dunnett stressed the new factories would be built without government subsidy as the high level of demand would make large-scale private investment viable.

But SEEDA's proposals met with scepticism from housing experts with experience of prefabricated building. They pointed out the private sector had not been keen in the past. One said: "I can't see builders going for this in the numbers required to make it work."

Source

Housing Today