SA Affordable Housing March - April 2019 // Issue: 75 | Page 5

NEWS
More UK
builders going
modular
An additional advantage of modular buildings is the lower
cost due to reduced time and labour on construction sites.
E
ight of the top 10 housebuilders in the UK have
turned to modular construction in some form or
other in the past few years, according to Tim
Barber-Lomax, senior analyst for UK residential at JLL.
“Investor Legal & General launched a modular
housing line that will deliver 3 000 homes each year,
while dedicated modular housing developer Ilke Homes
has announced a target of 4 000 homes in the next two
years,” explains Barber-Lomax.
This comes as the UK faces increasing demand for
affordable homes, with traditional building methods
proving too slow. As the stigma of ‘prefab homes’ from
the 1950s wears off, more and more people are
comfortable living in homes built from materials other
than brick, stone and cement.
“Modular construction has had more negative
connotations, but certainly today, it delivers quality
builds because units are constructed in factory-
controlled conditions, offering far more precision and
capabilities in design and execution than usual
traditional construction methods,” says Barber-Lomax.
Lower costs due to reduced time and labour on
construction sites are an additional advantage.
“Modular construction has the potential to ease the
housing crisis with new builds that can be built quickly,
and crucially, are affordable,” says Barber-Lomax.
MARCH - APRIL 2019
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