A panel convened at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool on Tuesday discussed the role of structural timber in delivering housing targets with industry experts and policy professionals
The panel discussed the use of structural timber to accelerate housing targets and meet the Government’s target of 1.5m new homes over the next five years.
The panel consisted of Mike Reader MP, Northampton South; Branwen Evans from Places for People; Andrew Carpenter, chief executive officer of the Structural Timber Association and was led by Jon Craig, chief political correspondent at Sky News.
There is existing capacity in the established structural timber manufacturing sector to rapidly double timber frame manufacturing output to achieve 100,000 homes per annum – equivalent to 1-in-3 of the 300,000 homes needed each year to achieve the new Government’s target.
The panel was asked how structural timber can help Britain resolve the housing crisis sustainably
Andrew Carpenter, who worked extensively on the Timber in Construction Roadmap, was eager to that the MMC industry was eager to work with other parts of the housebuilding process, such as planning officials and insurers to ensure the delivery of safe and sustainable housing.
He also said that the twin issues of achieving net zero and building safety must be given equal priority in any future projects. MMC has a huge role to play in reaching the projected housing and net zero targets, he argued, going on to say: “There are two things we [structural timber] are inextricably linked with – the building of 1.5m homes over the course of the Parliament. We can contribute as a sector a third of those.
“The second thing is growth. Decarbonisation has got to be one of the planks of the growth strategy.
“It’s time for timber. The opportunity of a lifetime has to be grasped in the lifetime of the opportunity. And that opportunity is now.”
Andrew Carpenter also advocated heavily for a “consistent pipeline”
Carpenter cited the recent collapse of several high-profile volumetric firms as being due to their lack of secure connections with the industry around them, saying that panelised works “have a more secure pipeline”.
Bethan Evans echoed this sentiment, speaking about how the cultural shift towards embracing offsite construction was still ongoing, with hurdles in planning and supply still present.
She also suggested that increasing the number of smaller, local factories rather than megafactories could help reduce the carbon emissions of transporting prefabricated materials, as well as benefiting local communities with employment.
The audience at the structural timber panel included a variety of professionals, such as local councillors, planners, insurers and various businesses involved in different stages of MMC or housing delivery.
Representatives from the Fire Protection Association and Construction Products Association were also present, raising concerns about the percieved safety of timber frames and the need for more information on both the positives and the negatives on using MMC.
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