House of Lords’ Built Environment Committee visits Hemel Hempstead

The BEC’s role is to consider matters in connection to the built environment, including policies relating to housing, planning, transport and infrastructure. Made up of 12 members of the House of Lords across the political spectrum, one of the BEC’s current inquiries is into the challenges and potential of MMC, a process which focuses on off-site construction techniques, such as volume production through efficient factory prefabrication, as an alternative to traditional labour-intensive onsite construction.

Hosted by Donaldson Timber Systems, the UK’s leading offsite timber frame manufacturer, and the UK’s leading mixed-tenure developer Countryside Partnerships, the purpose of the visit was to gain industry insight into the current challenges and barriers to delivering MMC in the UK and the expectations of industry from government. Vistry Group’s investment in timber-frame manufacturing, illustrated by its three modular factories in Bardon, Warrington and Leicester, is a reflection of the company’s confidence in the potential of MMC to fulfil the demand for new housing in an efficient and environmentally friendly way.

The review combined a tour of West Herts College to look at the MMC training provision and apprenticeships being delivered there, followed by a site visit to Countryside Partnerships’ Spencer’s Park development, where MMC is being used to deliver 445 homes on the 600-home scheme, in partnership with affordable housing provider Hightown Housing Association and PRS provider Sigma.

At West Herts College, the BEC was keen to understand more about the MMC module being included and offered as part of the college’s carpentry & joinery Level 2 NVQ course, to gain insight into current industry MMC training provision. The MMC module at West Herts College is sponsored by Donaldson Timber Systems through the provision of a timber frame demonstration unit within the college, for lecturers and students, a series of lectures to explain the MMC Category 2 panelised systems that the company uses, as well as taking on timber frame carpentry apprentices through the college.

The BEC was also introduced to five of the college’s carpentry, joinery and MMC, apprentices, providing the opportunity for the committee to gain feedback on the course, the benefits of combined college and on-site learning and what could be done to encourage more MMC apprentices into the industry.

The BEC was then taken to Countryside Partnerships’ Spencer’s Park scheme to see how Cat 2 MMC is delivered and assembled on a live site, and the impressive architectural and energy performance which can be achieved with this alternative to traditional construction.

Spencer’s Park is a joint venture between Countryside Partnerships and Homes England that will deliver much-needed mixed-tenure housing and community, educational, retail and commercial facilities to Hemel Hempstead.

Countryside Partnerships and Homes England are delivering 600 homes at Spencer’s Park, including 24 shared ownership properties, 73 affordable rental units and 75 PRS homes, working in collaboration with Hightown Housing Association and Sigma to deliver the affordable and PRS elements of the scheme. Once complete, the scheme will also bring a primary school, community centre, 7,500m2 of employment uses as well as public landscaping, open space and play areas.

445 of the 600 homes being created in total at Spencer’s Park are being delivered using Cat 2 MMC, where the structural timber components manufactured by Donaldson Timber Systems, are delivered to site and the timber frame walls, floors and roofs are then assembled. The BEC were able to see this process in action at Spencer’s Park, gaining insight into the level of training required to undertake the assembly correctly, and the efficiencies and environmental benefits to be gained by MMC delivery.

The tour undertaken by Donaldson Timber Systems and Countryside Partnerships was received very positively by the BEC, with feedback stating that the tour was both informative and helpful to the inquiry and that members had been particularly interested to learn about the success of the Cat 2 MMC timber frame building systems, being manufactured by Donaldson Timber Systems and delivered at Spencer’s Park. The information gained will be used to inform the BEC’s findings on MMC which will be published in the new year.

Speaking of the event, Verity MacMahon, Managing Director, Home Counties North, Countryside Partnerships said:

“With the right support behind it, MMC has the potential to accelerate the pace of housing delivery in the UK, where demand for high quality new housing continues to exceed the speed of delivery. With the potential to be more efficient and environmentally friendly than traditional construction, MMC offers huge benefits which Countryside is demonstrating at Spencer’s Park and across the UK via its three modular timber frame factories in Bardon, Warrington and Leicester.”

Earl Sibley, Chief Operating Officer, Vistry Group, says:

“The investment we’ve made in our three MMC factories illustrates our confidence in timber frame. The demand for new homes in this country shows no sign of abating now or in the long-term and by aligning our investment plans with the housing needs and consistent order book of our well-established partners, we can deliver more homes across a broad mix of housing tenures using the production capacity our combined MMC facilities provide.”