The move comes after last month's announcement of a £200m "Challenge Fund" to provide 4000 homes in London and the South-east, a quarter of which must be built using prefabrication techniques (see linked story, below).
Simon Dow, Guinness Trust chief executive and chair of the forum's off-site manufacture working group, said there was a need to ensure that people both inside and outside the sector were aware of the benefits of prefab. He said: "We are continuing the process of educating people that off-site manufacture is different but not substantially so.
"We are launching a charm offensive outside the sector, while ensuring that the second generation of off-site manufacture techniques are well-known within the sector."
The forum has discussed a number of options for the charm offensive, including getting current occupants of prefabricated homes to talk about their experiences on videos and issuing a series of briefing papers.
The offensive will begin by mid-2003 and the working group will meet with various bodies to address any concerns they may have about the viability of prefabricated homes. It will also examine the capacity of prefab providers to scale up to meet predicted demand.
Paul Coomber, equity partner in the Oxford office of quantity surveyor Davis Langdon Everest, welcomed the Housing Forum's move. He added: "I've been discussing off-site manufacture with a number of clients for a number of years. What's put them off is the cost penalty to pay for new and innovative methods of construction. I'd like to see more competition so the cost penalty goes. Once you have the volume, then the rest falls into place."
Source
Housing Today
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