Opinion: Why we need to let go of our prefab prejudices and embrace modern factory built homes to solve the housing crisis

We currently find ourselves in the midst of a housing crisis, where people are questioning the property industry’s ability to deliver the quantity of homes required. Whether you call them pre-fabs, modular construction, precision off-site manufacturing or modern methods of construction (MMC), building homes in factories and then delivering them to the development site is the latest construction method proposed to help tackle this problem. The concept, however, is certainly not new.

To understand how it began, you’d have to start in the late 1940s, when pre-fabs first grabbed people’s attention because they were being built on estates all over the country. The homes were designed to be temporary measures, initially for a 10 year life-span, balancing the deficit of 200,000 homes the country had at that time. They were dubbed as ‘palaces for the people’, feats of ‘wonderful engineering’ and far outlasted their remit. Not only that, they became communities where people wanted to live. Of course, the pre-fab era naturally came to an end as the housing deficit was met, the building industry flourished, and the use of bricks and mortar was re-introduced.

What this did, however, was leave a dubious legacy. Though they solved a problem, factory- built homes got a reputation for being unimaginative, constructed with questionable materials and built in a short-sighted manner. This preconception can prove difficult for developers to get away from so it puts them off using these methods when they construct new homes.

In fact, they have many modern benefits, especially when it comes to eco-credentials. In an age where our energy usage is at its most scrutinised, we can very clearly push the sustainability agenda in modular units, using low carbon materials and effective insulation. Other benefits include a considerable increase in speed of delivery – so we can build homes more quickly – and they produce substantially less waste.

So how do we change perceptions? Through the delivery of more and more successfully complete MMC developments across the country that are specifically designed and developed as permanent modern-day residential housing solutions.

We can draw inspiration from developments like 101 George Street in Croydon, Apex House in Wembley, and Victoria Hall in Wolverhampton to name but a few. These push the boundaries of our construction knowledge, creativity and, in many modern examples, they are indistinguishable from a traditional built development.

The pre-fabs of the 40s and 50s met a particular need at that time. Applying a similar concept but with modern technology and manufacturing processes, we can deliver much-needed permanent housing at a volume necessary to tackle the housing crisis we currently face. All that’s standing in our way is an outdated prejudice about prefab housing.