As leaders of companies within the built environment arena you have no doubt got key housing figures etched forever in your mind - I will therefore save you the need to read these again.  

The below article, put together by Arcadis, does however point towards some quite staggering figures behind the countries investment and assurances to adopting offsite to alleviate the situation.  In summary, we are only scratching the surface.

I have commented regularly on the uptake of government schemes, investment and innovation from within the market.  It was good to therefore read five key government departments have provided ringing endorsements for adopting offsite as a solution (£20bn spend in housing in total).

Forecasters put growth within offsite at more than 100% move to 2020 - or a turnover exceeding £2.8bn.  This is great but, as the report below suggests, there are a number of barriers presenting themselves to the sector.

For a start, there are only seven major players in the market.  Developers / wider investors do not yet have full confidence in the supply chain.  A major issue, in my experience, is the commercial risks presented to project stakeholders when working with, largely, fledgling manufacturers within DfMA.  Larger projects won, with a lack of upfront payments, can potentially cripple SME's.  Additionally, there is concern that individual plots cannot be pooled to suit existing sites.  

For a thorough and insightful view from someone very much in the know within this sub-sector, please read my recent Q&A with Darren Richards:

5 more minutes with... Darren Richards, MD of leading offsite manufacturing experts Cogent Consulting 

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