THE STAKES ARE ALWAYS HIGH

Greetings and welcome to the latest edition of Offsite Magazine. The magazine continues to grow to cover the burgeoning world of offsite manufacture and MMC, the term that seems to have now become the favoured catch-all way to describe factory-led manufacture.

Our world of offsite manufacture is in a constant state-of-flux, arguably busier and more dynamic than ever before historically. But whilst exciting opportunities for growth and successful business are plentiful, so are the pitfalls. As we went to press, news filtered through that L&G Modular Homes had called a halt to production of new modules at its facility in Sherburn-inElmet.

Sadly, for many industry insiders this came as no real surprise, but the threat of redundancies for the 450+ staff is a miserable development. Running up cumulative losses of £176million since it was established in 2016, the dissection of its demise will no doubt continue. Time will tell if the business can be reformed or re-energised in some fashion. But after beginning with high hopes and mega-investment, L&G Modular Homes never seemed to give any confidence that it was going to deliver the transformational change to the housebuilding industry on the scale that everyone was anticipating. Blame has been laid at the door of long planning delays, COVID-19 and the lack of pipeline to make the ‘current model’ work, but the feeling is that there was much more to it than those factors, that affected every other business in the industry.

For all of that, the enthusiasm for offsite methods shows no sign of slowing down. Not least in healthcare. David Clowe, recently appointed Director and Head of MMC at Turner & Townsend, tells us how new hospitals are helping galvanise the use of offsite construction where pressures on capital budgets and the net zero ambitions have put ‘the use of MMC front and centre for enablers.’

Loads more inside. Including a special focus on precast concrete and some real insight into social value and ESG goals from Akerlof and the Supply Chain Sustainability School – concepts that are hugely important aspects of offsite and MMC, even if you don’t actually realise it.

Thanks to all our contributors, advertisers and supporters for their help and guidance this issue.

Gary Ramsay Consultant Editor

Email: gary.ramsay@offsitemagazine.co.uk

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