Future of Cities - Future of UK Housing Supply 2022

REPURPOSING PRESENTS AN EXCITING OPPORTUNITY

SPEED UP DELIVERY

The social and demographic shifts outlined above will drive changes in our real estate needs. The shifts in the way we live, work and play have already altered the way we engage with our cities - with the changes on the high street and our shopping centres being the most obvious examples. The repurposing of under-utilised assets will be essential. In the right locations, where building infrastructure, demand, and financial viability align, repurposing can provide brilliant opportunities to deliver more homes. We are moving in the right direction with changes to permitted development rights that make conversion easier. However, it is hard to make schemes financially viable. Financial support from the government would help move repurposing forward. Repurposing aligns with the government’s ‘brownfield first’ approach and sustainability agenda and therefore seems an obvious route to take.

Residential construction is characterised by low productivity, mixed quality, slow output, and reduced margins for house builders. With automation a high-impact certainty in our future city, we believe MMC represents an opportunity to address many of these issues. Factory production allows for better quality control, more efficient use of labour and materials (a big issue over the last few years), better productivity, faster scheme delivery, and less risk of disruption on site. MMC can also improve sustainability within construction. So far, however, MMC has been slow to take off. One of the big issues is that demand fluctuates, and unstable investment and unpredictable construction cycles have made it difficult to establish a consistent supply chain. There is also a huge cost involved in setting up a factory. We can’t let these challenges stop us - we need to continue to try new methods and innovate. If MMC takes off by 2040, this vastly alters the landscape for increased residential development.

15 The Future of UK Housing Supply |