The appointment of construction industry renaissance guru Mark Farmer as the government’s champion of Modern Methods of Construction has been welcomed by insulation specialist Actis.
“The author of the ground-breaking, government commissioned Farmer Review of the Construction Labour Model, which called on the industry to ‘modernise or die’ in 2016 should give a well-needed shot in the arm to a sluggish housebuilding programme,” said Mark Cooper, UK and Ireland sales director of insulation manufacturer Actis.
“The speed with which such homes can be built will have two-fold benefits – accelerating the delivery of much-needed new homes, while at the same time addressing the shortage of skilled workers to build them.
“Added to that, quality is far better controlled and they can be thermally superb, cutting carbon emissions and saving money and resources.
“As they can be built in fewer man hours this helps offset the fact that we have a diminishing skilled workforce, giving us time to nurture new talent and offer different opportunities for those joining the industry.”
As well as authoring his much-lauded report, Mark Farmer led the Mayor of London’s Developers’ Toolkit project to simplify and speed up the delivery of offsite homes in the capital, which aims to build 65.000 new homes a year in the coming decade.
Mark Cooper added: “Building a timber frame house is significantly faster than brick and block. The bulk of the time-consuming element takes place off site.
“Making homes in this way is often greener both during and after construction, helping with the government’s objective of reducing carbon emissions.”
