Challenge

A 2016 House of Lords Report stated that 300,000 homes had to be built annually to tackle the housing shortage in the U.K. However, in 2017 only 162,180 new homes were built.

A shortage of skilled Construction Workers amplifies the problem. The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) states that 400,000 workers will leave the Industry between 2015 – 2020 and the age profile of workers is in the 50’s. The industry is only recruiting around 2,000 workers annually.

The Government and numerous industry bodies identify Offsite/Factory manufacturing of building components as an answer to the Skills Shortage and improving productivity in the Construction Industry.

The U.K. Government have stated that from 2019 there will be a presumption in favour of Offsite Construction on its direct capital spending in the Departments of Transport, Health, Education, Justice and Defence. The Governments spending on these departments in 2017 was over £20 Billion.

Response

Seeing the opportunity for the application of the Mobil Build System in the U.K., Mobil Build is working with its Structural Engineers Clancy Consulting and its Architects IDP Architects to launch the Mobil Build System in the U.K.

Mobil Build have been invited by the World renowned Building Research Establishment (BRE) to build a Prototype house on its Innovation Park at BRE headquarters in Garston, Watford and be one of the first systems to attain the World’s first standard for Modular Construction BPS 7014 devised by the BRE.

Objectives

  • Show the benefit of using pre-manufactured components in multiple designs of a built asset
  • Increase the Productivity of Construction
  • The use of a Mobile Plant in integrating the Supply Chain
  • Adoption of digital processes such as Building Information Modeling (BIM)
  • Utilising the “Internet of Things” processes such as Tag and Track of components
  • Producing standardised components
  • Reduce Construction Time by upto 80%
  • Reduce Construction Costs by upto 40%
  • Bring down the cost of Active Buildings by integrating and adding to the design compatibility of the Mobil Build System and PassivHaus low energy house design
  • A reduction in Carbon intensity, through the use of Regen Concrete which will mean a 90% reduction in CO2 emissions and the consumption of 75% less fuel in the production process