Gleeds report shows industry turning to MMC to beat covid slowdown

Two thirds of contractors are looking to use modern methods of construction on future projects because of the covid-19 pandemic, according to the latest market report by Gleeds.

Just over a third of contractors, 35%, also reported an upsurge in the use of the initiative during 2020.

The results, published in Gleeds’ autumn market report, tally with the consultant’s summer report in which two thirds said the use of technology had increased on site since the start of the lockdown in late March.

Gleeds said its findings might have been prompted by the usefulness of MMC in speeding up project delivery times, which have been hit by social distancing measures introduced on sites during the pandemic.

Of those contractors which responded to the survey, 94% said the measures had led to delays on projects, with one in 10 believing schedules could be more than 20% slower.

And it is a situation which is in danger of worsening during the winter months, with 30% of respondents fearing that implementing social distancing measures will be more difficult during poor weather.

But the report also shed light on a growing mood of collaboration in the industry, with the percentage of respondents who said the pandemic would inevitably lead to a more adversarial approach to contracts dropping from 71% in the summer to 41% in the autumn.