LEVELLING UP
USING THE POWER OF OFFSITE
Modern methods of construction (MMC) are increasingly viewed as a way to deal with the UK’s many housing problems. LHC Group interim Managing Director, Elaine Elkington investigates how this approach also supports the Government’s levelling up agenda.
1 Michael Gove’s recent comments about housing targets and the newlyannounced levelling-up legislation has brought fresh interest in the role of MMC in meeting our future housing needs – in both quantity and quality. According to No 10, the Government has confirmed it is still very much committed to building 300,000 new homes a year and has also stressed the importance of building housing of the right type and quality. The Government has now also published its Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, with plans to devolve more powers locally in England in the hope that frequent local opposition to new housing schemes can be overcome. Mr Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, said: “We’re going to do everything we can, but it’s no kind of success simply to hit a target if the homes that are built are shoddy,
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in the wrong place, don’t have the infrastructure required, and are not contributing to beautiful communities.” But what if we can have it all – a steady production of well-designed new homes in a range of tenures, built in the right places and to consistently high-quality standards. What if these homes could also help residents cope better with current cost of living pressures? LHC’s vision for public sector housing would achieve this, and widespread use of MMC would also drive progress towards net zero targets and tackle fuel poverty. MMC as saviour for levelling up? Current planning policy has been regularly namechecked by Government as blockage to housebuilding progress but LHC’s report, ‘How public sector procurement aids the levelling up agenda’ explores some different solutions. Bringing together sector
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2 experts from LHC, the Home Builders’ Federation (HBF), Northern Housing Consortium (NHC) and industry equality, diversity and inclusion campaigners, the report looks at levelling up through a housing and procurement lens. The report recognises that raising regional housing standards and moving numbers beyond the current 244,000 homes built annually requires a significant shift in the way we build homes in the UK. MMC and offsite building have the potential for reaching the right volumes, of the right quality and at future-ready energy efficiency standards. Procuring for lower carbon homebuilding Procurement has a pivotal role in helping secure greater numbers of MMC and sustainably-built homes – alongside traditional methods still very much a major focus in LHC’s
