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HTA Design LLP
Housing associations looking to sign lucrative “strategic partnership” deals with Homes England to build large numbers of affordable homes will have to commit to using modern methods of construction to build out at least 25% of their pipeline.
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick said he was making modern methods of construction (MMC) “central” to the government’s new affordable homes programme in order to deliver “better and more sustainable homes”.
Details of the government’s bidding criteria for the majority of its five-year £11.5bn affordable housebuilding programme (AHP), published yesterday, make clear that those getting the largest shares of government funding will have to commit to delivering government priorities such as MMC.
he details were set out in information aimed at those considering bidding for the £7.5bn shares of the affordable homes programme which is to be spent outside London, and which is being administered by national housing quango Homes England.
“We want the UK to be a world leader in MMC, creating new jobs, better skills and faster delivery of homes. 10% of the programme will go towards building homes in rural settlements of less than 3,000 people.”
“With this help, a sustained long-term pipeline can underpin investment in manufacturing to deliver the quality homes we need while creating the jobs we want.”
“The primary driver is to make the market more visible to manufacturers, so they can see the level of demand and invest and respond. At the moment those who have factories set up are often under-utilised so they can’t see this demand.”
The new bidding guidance said that all allocations of funding will place “significant focus on” investment in MMC techniques, such as offsite and modular construction, the promotion of which is one of Homes England’s key strategic priorities.
Other priorities that bidders to the funding will be expected to prioritise are the use of the National Design Guide, improving energy efficiency, and using SME contractors.
“At least 25% MMC” within their programme, as well as “use their expertise to help build capacity for development within the sector.”
HTA’s Ben Derbyshire
As announced by Robert Jenrick earlier this week, the bidding details confirmed that around half of the funding will be expected to go towards homes for affordable homeownership, with around half for discounted rent. The government will fund the cheapest “social rent” products in areas of “high affordability challenge”. Still, it will only do so elsewhere if the grant required is no higher than necessary for more expensive rented homes.
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In addition, the details make clear than 10% of the programme will go towards supported housing, and 10% of the programme will have to be directed to build homes in rural settlements of less than 3,000 people.
Addressing the Chartered Institute of Housing’s annual conference yesterday, Robert Jenrick said the focus on MMC was designed to deliver “better, and more sustainable” homes across the country. He said: “That’s why […] we’ve set a minimum target for the use of MMC in the programme, and we’re going to review that annually and increase it if market conditions allow.
Housing associations wanting to bid for funding under the affordable homes programme will have two routes to do so – either individual applications for individual schemes, under Homes England’s Continuous Market Engagement programme, or signing up to a long-term Strategic Partnership.
Continuous Market Engagement will only continue for as long as funds remain available, and schemes must be completed by March 2026. However, under strategic partnerships, housing associations have long term certainty over funding which can be flexibly deployed to projects as they see fit, and two years longer to deliver the homes.
Under the last affordable homes programme, Homes England signed £1bn of strategic partnerships with providers, with individual deals running in excess of £100m.
All of these details only apply to Homes England’s programme outside of London. The government is still in discussion with London’s Labour mayor, Sadiq Khan about how the £4bn allocated for the capital over the next five years will be spent. Khan has previously campaigned for the government to provide almost £5bn in funding every year to meet the need for affordable homes in London.
Mark Farmer, founder of consultant Cast, and the government’s MMC champion said the Affordable Homes Programme announcement marked a significant step up in the level of intervention from government on MMC, and that he expected to see further announcements along similar lines in the near future.
He said: “Government has a range of related objectives linked to carbon, quality, safety, affordability, planning reform, levelling up and market diversification. MMC is one of the only levers that Government can pull that enables or supports all of these outcomes in some way provided it is done well and in a considered manner.
“The MMC market is still immature and there is a need for a complex range of interconnected measures to be implemented to ensure that any MMC led transformation is sustainable and does not lead to inadvertent consequences.”
Phase 1
The dream begins as well as the research for the right location and the specifications/standards that should be followed.
Phase 2
Led by an architect or an engineer, will need to make sure that each of the state regulations and codes is met while respecting the vision of the project.
Phase 3
The next stage of a construction project begins when the bidding is completed and the contractor has been chosen to do the work.
Phase 4
This stage of the project can be more or less complex and challenging depending on how big the project is and available start date.
Dave Sheridan, executive chairman at modular housebuilder like Homes, welcomed the news. He said: “There is an urgent need to diversify the supply of affordable housing across the UK if the industry is to speed up delivery and reduce its carbon footprint.
“It’s great to see Homes England continuing to beat the drum for modular. Savills has already predicted that the proportion of homes delivered using modern methods could double to 20 per cent in the next decade and this announcement will certainly act as a catalyst to achieving this.”
Factory-built homes could account for a quarter of Britain’s annual housing supply under plans being considered by Downing Street.
The government should embark on a programme to build 75,000 modular homes a year, according to a report co-authored by HTA Design partner Mike De’Ath and the government’s modern methods of construction champion Mark Farmer.
Reports suggest the government is currently considering the proposals, which call for a further cash injection for the recently launched £11.5bn Affordable Housing Programme in this autumn’s spending review.
Farmer told Building Design’s sister title Housing Today that the construction of an “additional” 75,000 homes a year by 2030 could push the use of off-site construction and MMC to a tipping point of wider industry acceptance and move the modular sector beyond its current “cottage industry” status.
A “fast-track” investment programme to build 75,000 modular homes a year by 2030 envisages creating up to 50,000 jobs and reducing carbon emissions from new homes by 40 per cent. The proposals would see the government increase funding for a range of housing tenures with linked targets for factory production.
Homes England, the government housing agency, would create a national platform to link councils, regional authorities and housing associations seeking to deliver modular homes with manufacturers, investors and suppliers. The proposals are outlined in a policy paper co-authored by Mark Farmer, who was appointed as the government’s “champion for modern methods of construction” last year. The
Ben Derbyshire is Chair of HTA Design LLP. A member of the practice since 1976 and a partner since 1986, Ben became a principal board director when the practice incorporated in 1998 and was appointed Managing Director of HTA Architects Ltd in 2005. Ben became Chair and Managing Partner of HTA Design LLP when it was formed in 2013 until 2016 and now acts as its Chair. He has built up broad-ranging expertise through involvement in much of HTA’s work in regeneration, master planning, housing and mixed-use design across all sectors. Ben leads the practice’s internal design review processes and heads up its marketing effort.
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Dave Sheridan, executive chairman at modular housebuilder like Homes, welcomed the news. He said: “There is an urgent need to diversify the supply of affordable housing across the UK if the industry is to speed up delivery and reduce its carbon footprint.
“It’s great to see Homes England continuing to beat the drum for modular. Savills has already predicted that the proportion of homes delivered using modern methods could double to 20 per cent in the next decade and this announcement will certainly act as a catalyst to achieving this.”
Factory-built homes could account for a quarter of Britain’s annual housing supply under plans being considered by Downing Street.
The government should embark on a programme to build 75,000 modular homes a year, according to a report co-authored by HTA Design partner Mike De’Ath and the government’s modern methods of construction champion Mark Farmer.
In addition, the details make clear than 10% of the programme will go towards supported housing, and 10% of the programme will have to be directed to build homes in rural settlements of less than 3,000 people.
Addressing the Chartered Institute of Housing’s annual conference yesterday, Robert Jenrick said the focus on MMC was designed to deliver “better, and more sustainable” homes across the country. He said: “That’s why […] we’ve set a minimum target for the use of MMC in the programme, and we’re going to review that annually and increase it if market conditions allow.
Housing associations wanting to bid for funding under the affordable homes programme will have two routes to do so – either individual applications for individual schemes, under Homes England’s Continuous Market Engagement programme, or signing up to a long-term Strategic Partnership.
Continuous Market Engagement will only continue for as long as funds remain available, and schemes must be completed by March 2026. However, under strategic partnerships, housing associations have long term certainty over funding which can be flexibly deployed to projects as they see fit, and two years longer to deliver the homes.
HTA Design services, as a contemporary practice, continues to acknowledge its roots in community architecture, which is apparent in our longstanding values. In addition to basic ethical principles of honesty and integrity, we follow certain principles and standards of behaviour which form our cultural and commercial values. These are: creativity, collaboration, commercial value, care for each other, and continuous improvement.
Each value was selected by our staff, through an open discussion about they believe to be the fundamental values of the practice and what it stands for, as well as what we aim to deliver in our work. Consensus was reached through intimate conversation in smaller groups, each given the task to focus on a specific business area, before bringing the discussion back to the whole office.
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