The case for change in the construction industry
By Mott Macdonald, Social Rent Housing playbook series
New to the playbook series? Start here with A playbook approach to accelerating housing delivery.
The construction industry faces a number of challenges, many associated with the cyclical, volatile and fragmented project-based approach adopted in response to the commercial environment. Global engineering, management and development consulting firm Mott MacDonald outline the case for change in construction, and why building homes in a new way is key.
Challenges
Construction Productivity has trended negatively since 1997
2. There is an ageing demographic and widening skills gap.
ONS Construction Statistics.
3. 30% of workplace fatalities taking place in construction, and rates of suicide in construction are twice as in high as other occupations.
4. Construction generates 60% of UK waste [by weight] Processing or disposing of this waste is highly detrimental to the environment.
5. Error accounts for 21% of the costs in construction
But we can change all this
How? By learning from other industries and developing Product Platforms for our social infrastructure...
Product Platforms are an integrated systems approach providing curated design and development solutions to efficiently deliver a range of products, balancing variability with repeatability. When combined with specific project requirements, it allows the development and creation of specific assets for individual customers efficiently and predictably.
Wide-spread adoption of Product Platforms across social infrastructure could reduce project costs by up to 30% or £1.8bn per year, through economies of repetition. These refer to productivity and efficiency gains that result from producing and delivering similar goods or services in large quantities and making improvements through learning.
Which is forecasted to produce huge GDP benefits, with the potential for an estimated increase on annual GDP of £4.7bn to £7.8bn, and consumption by £6.8bn to £11.4bn, research also points to demonstrable improvements in social and environmental outcomes.
For more information see The Value of Platforms in Construction (2023)
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As you engage with the Playbook, we encourage you to reach out to the contributing organisations to inform your learning. No single organisation’s product, process or passion can fix the problem. Change will come through creativity, collective wisdom and the will to roll up our sleeves, get involved and work together to do things differently!