"Does it stack up?" might not only refer to the technical challenge of developing prefabricated building systems to produce modern homes.
Financially, commercially, legally and socially, this same question gets asked time and time again.

The housebuilding industry is asking a lot from its new technology. It has to allow the industry to build faster and more efficiently, with fewer trades and fewer defects, and to make homes more energy-efficient. And of course the homes have to cost less to build too. Otherwise, why change?

Building's conference this week on factory-built homes and this special supplement might start to provide answers to some of the questions, but the industry also has to take into account its present situation. Private sector housebuilders are struggling to find the skills to produce the levels of quality their customers expect. Housing associations, especially those in the South, are grappling with the needs of key workers. New technology might be the only option.

Postscript

Josephine Smit, editor