Countryside chief claims: 'We are UK's leading MMC provider' as it targets 20,000 homes
News, views and more from the MMC sector
The big beasts of UK housebuilding are beginning to assemble their troops in the battle over production.
Barratt has a target to be building 30% of homes using MMC by 2025, while fellow listed giant Countryside has this week doubled down its own MMC target of 50% by the middle of the decade.
As part of this it hopes to have built 20,000 MMC homes by the middle of 2024.
Judging by the presentation given by Countryside’s manufacturing boss, Phillip Lyons, to investors this week it is almost a surprise the firm is not going further, given the grim picture he painted of the state of the traditional construction industry. (He noted, for example, that among bricklayers the average age is in the 50s.)
What was also interesting was his use of language.
On more than one occasion he trumpeted that Countryside is the UK’s “leading MMC provider”.
This kind of bravado is noteworthy as so far the large pure play firms - Ilke, TopHat and L&G - have (sensibly) resisted any such claims publicly.
It is perhaps a sign that the MMC housing sector is about to get a whole lot more competitive.
Good for the winners, not so good for the losers.
Also in this issue:
We asked Homes England if it knows how many homes are being built using MMC
And find out how many quality control checks Urban Splash says it does on its modular homes
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