INDUSTRY NEWS
BARRATT TO BUILD ONE IN FOUR HOMES USING MMC BY 2025
PLATFORM DESIGN TEAM ANNOUNCED
Britain's biggest housebuilder aims to build a quarter of its homes using modern methods of construction by 2025. Barratt has rolled out a series of new housing types to allow a switch to greater use of offsite production and standardised product use. Its commitment to driving down build costs using modern methods of construction came as the volume housebuilder reported a 12-year high in completions, up 9% to 8,314 in the first six months of the financial year.
The Construction Innovation Hub has unveiled the industry ‘players’ who will take forward its flagship Platform Design programme – a central plank of the Hub’s four-year Government-backed programme to transform UK construction. Platforms will enable new buildings to be designed and configured using a pre-defined ‘kit of parts’, which are proven to demonstrate greater whole-life value, lower carbon and energy use, better safety and quality and which will improve the overall performance of buildings. This approach will support the government’s ambition to drive innovation and build industrial capability and capacity in businesses throughout the UK to deliver more sustainable buildings in the near future. The Platform programme will be driven by a collaborative team of integrators comprising some of construction’s biggest names: Skanska, BAM, PCE, MID Group, Kier/ VINCI Construction UK, Mace and Mott MacDonald. Supported through every step of the programme by manufacturing, building performance and digital specialists from the three partners of the Hub – the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), BRE and Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB) – Platform participants will develop and refine their products, technologies or services which will then be installed and widely showcased on a proof-of-concept building, demonstrating how these solutions can be applied across a wide range of UK government projects for vital new buildings including schools, hospitals and prisons.
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Construction Innovation Hub Programme Director, Keith Waller, said: “Our flagship Platform Design programme is a game-changer for construction. With the right blend of expertise and collaboration across government and industry, we could see a critical mass of new-built projects like schools and hospitals constructed using the Platform approach in as little as ten years, driving improved productivity and performance for the sector and better outcomes for the environment and society. The innovative businesses joining us on our journey are the vanguard of transformative change, not just in terms of how we create buildings, but in how those buildings impact on our lives and the environment.” The wider collaborative team for the Hub’s Platform programme comprises over forty businesses drawn from a range of disciplines, and includes a number of specialist SMEs, who will work alongside the Hub and the integrators, providing design, specialist consultancy services, sub-assembly, components and materials that will be showcased on the proof of concept building.
David Thomas, chief executive, said: “Barratt planned to increase volumes by 3-5% a year, against a backdrop of some of its rival housebuilders reining back completions.” In the last six months of 2019, despite impacts from General Election and Brexit uncertainty, Barratt lifted revenue 6% to £2.27bn, generating a pre-tax profit up nearly 4% to £423m. Operating margin softened slightly over the period to 19%. He added that Barratt had become the first major housebuilder to set a science-based target to reduce carbon emissions in its operations by around a third by 2025. Rival Redrow also revealed its first-half trading today with legal completions down 14% to 2,554 homes. Pre-tax profit over the six months to December slid 15% to £157m on revenue down 10% at £870m.
MMC Programme Director at the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA), Will Varah, added: “There is a strong alignment between the IPA’s P-DfMA approach and the Hub’s Platform programme. We look forward to working together to deliver a more sustainable and productive way to meeting our ambitious investment programme.”
John Tutte, executive chairman of Redrow, said that the market was fairly consistent across all of Redrow's operating areas with London showing some early signs of improvement. "The market in the first five weeks of the second half has been resilient with the value of reservations up 15% at £180m (2019: £156m)."
www.constructioninnovationhub.org.uk
www.barratthomes.co.uk
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