The Welsh government has announced that it is making a £45m investment in modular housing, in an attempt to increase the delivery of social and affordable homes.
Of the £45m investment, £25m will be made available through round four of the government’s Innovative Housing Programme, which will focus on innovative housing delivered through modern methods of construction (MMC).
The remaining £20m is to help MMC businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, develop supply chains, factories and skills development centres, for example.
Announced in 2017, the Innovative Housing Programme is available to organisations – including housing associations, councils and developers – that use innovative techniques to aid the delivery of new homes.
The investment is part of the Welsh government’s new MMC strategy, named ‘Reimagining social house building in Wales’, which is being published today.
It comes in response to a recommendation made by the government’s affordable housing review, which was published in May last year and identified MMC as a way of more quickly increasing housing supply.
In November last year, the UK government announced that it was investing £30m into modular builder Ilke Homes, marking the government’s first direct investment in a modular housing factory.
Julie James, Welsh housing minister, said: “Building more social and affordable homes is a key priority for the Welsh government. Over the last four years, this Welsh government has invested £2bn in new housing across Wales, as part of our ambition to deliver 20,000 affordable homes by 2021.
“But we want to build more. And we want to build better. The significant investment we’re making in the modular housing industry will enable us to do that.
“Gone are the days of MMC’s association with poor-quality, temporary, pre-fabricated housing; MMC now produces high-quality, desirable and energy-efficient affordable homes that tenants can be proud of. We have certainly moved from pre-fab to ab fab!
“Developing the MMC industry in Wales presents us with a great opportunity to not only build beautiful new social housing, but also kick-start a new industry that will become increasingly important for our economy.”
