The UK is short of approximately 4.3 million dwellings following years of failing to keep pace in house building with comparable economics, according to estimates from urban development organisation Centre for Cities. The Labour government pledged the construction of 1.5 million homes during its current five years in Parliament and, while meeting this target seems increasingly unlikely, the fact remains that the sector must build more sustainable homes if the country is to stand a chance of meeting its 2050 net-zero environmental target.
BIO-BASED BUILDING PRODUCTS
Faced with the need to build houses both faster and greener, the growing consensus in the construction sector and among policy makers is that we should build more with bio-based materials, notably wood.
According to the Structural Timber Association, building with timber offers multiple environmental benefits. Unlike energy intensive, finite material-based construction materials, such as steel and concrete, timber is a renewable resource. It absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere as it grows and stores it for the life of the wood product. It provides the potential to turn the built environment into a major carbon sink and is an inherent insulant, helping deliver energy efficient homes.
THE HIGH-SPEED ROUTE TO MEET HOUSING NEEDS
Speed of build is another inherent advantage and attraction of prioritising timber construction when building houses. As a strong, light material, timber is easier to handle than concrete and steel, as well as being generally more forgiving and flexible. It’s no coincidence that timber frame is used most in Scotland, accounting for more than 90% of newbuild housing.
The country’s challenging climate gives a narrower construction window and really puts the emphasis on getting a weather-tight building shell up as quickly as possible. This has helped make timber frame the default option.
These shorter site times allows for cost-savings – a critical factor as the industry seeks more budget-friendly solutions without compromising quality. Combined with timber frame’s ‘seamless alignment’ with revisions to Part L of the Building Regulations on building U-values and carbon footprint, it delivers a straightforward, cost-effective route to compliance compared to traditional brick and block methods.
UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF TIMBER FRAME
The UK government evidently sees the multiple merits of building more with wood. Working closely with the timber and building industries, and academia, it has drawn up the Timber in Construction Roadmap, which was updated in early 2025. The roadmap has a dual focus – how to increase domestic timber production and underpin that by growing the timber building sector to use the wood. It sees the benefits of achieving these goals as environmental, economic and social. And it notes that, while timber frame construction is the prime approach in Scotland, it is still a relatively underdeveloped in comparison to other countries in the UK. This creates an ‘opportunity to unlock this industry at scale and at speed’.
The UK government is supporting development of offsite, modular construction with a £10 billion project to increase its use in public buildings. A total of 29 firms have been selected by the Crown Commercial Service to be a part of its offsite construction framework, commissioned to supply prefabricated modular buildings to government departments. That includes social housing, schools and healthcare facilities.
THE CATEGORIES OF MMC
Seven distinct categories of MMC were previously defined by a government working group. Five relate to different types of pre-manufactured solutions, with Category 1 being 3D primary structural systems (more commonly known as volumetric modular). The sixth and seventh categories address labour reductions and productivity improvements on site, through traditional product-led and process-led approaches.
Category 1 MMC housebuilding represents an opportunity to deliver factory-built, modular homes that are cost effective, of consistent quality, and delivered on site quickly. They depend less on skilled labour, which is critical at a time when the construction industry is facing a skills crisis. The drivers are there for MMC housebuilding to succeed. As well as housebuilding targets, Skills England says adoption of MMC needs to “expand considerably” to have a meaningful impact on current labour shortages. But it also notes that unpredictable profit margins restrict the construction industry’s ability to invest in skills and innovation.
As factory-based operations, Category 1 MMC companies need a consistent pipeline. Without a consistent and predictable level of demand, these companies cannot succeed – and those pipelines are still not there. Without the right level of demand, companies’ operations cannot be scaled up.
Scaling up is one ‘S’ of Homes England’s “five-S” approach to support MMC, alongside standardisation, safety and assurance, soft levers, and stimulating the market. However, the Built Environment Committee has found that Homes England’s approach “has no clear objectives, no metrics with which to measure success, and no timescale for implementation”.
HOW CAN THE GOVERNMENT SUPPORT MMC HOUSEBUILDING?
Achievable goals and a coherent strategy are key to delivering more housing using Category 1 MMC. The government must ensure it achieves value for money from its investment in the sector, but progress is hard to establish because there is a lack of data about the use of MMC. Data is also an issue where warranty and insurance providers are concerned.
Many are unwilling to accept compliance with the Building Regulations as sufficient, but the industry is not collaborating to gather the data it needs to issue warranties or insurance. The government should communicate a clear expectation to the sector to do this, which would support the delivery of MMC housebuilding.
With Government support and clear direction, the MMC sector is capable of helping to accelerate UK housebuilding. Products and technologies are also being developed to accentuate timber construction’s inherent advantages and support market growth. Factory applied products such as resin-based Arctek Dryshell offers an innovative factory-applied, weather resistant barrier for OSB and other wood-based panels.
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