Modular construction is playing a vital role in the construction sector’s battle to cut carbon emissions with factory-built homes, says Nick Hillard, ESG lead at Tide Construction
According to the UK Green Building Council, the country’s built environment – buildings and infrastructure – is responsible for a quarter of all carbon emissions in the UK. Such statistics reflect the challenge facing the construction industry. Work is already ongoing to do things differently at various stages of the building lifecycle in order to reduce carbon emissions. We believe the adoption of new Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), such as factory-built homes, will help the delivery of a high quality built environment, where construction activity is greener, safer, cleaner and far less wasteful.
Within the scope of MMC, the use of modular, volumetric technology – modules that are precision-manufactured offsite – is destined to prove particularly significant.
At Tide we have been delivering residential, student and hotel schemes using modular techniques for years using our 3D volumetric company Vision Modular Systems. Some elements of our buildings are in fact delivered traditionally, but we see modular as a key part of the built environment’s future if it is truly to tackle carbon emissions, create schemes that are of the highest quality and, crucially, deliver sustainable buildings.
Volumetric modular systems produce less embodied carbon emissions
According to a recent study of two Tide Construction schemes by academics from the University of Cambridge and Edinburgh Napier University, construction using volumetric modular systems was found to produce significantly less embodied carbon emissions than when employing traditional methods.
Embodied carbon – the CO2 produced during the design, construction and decommissioning phases of a development – is dramatically lower when modular systems are used because these buildings require a lower volume of carbon-intensive products such as concrete and steel.
Modules for the two schemes studied, delivered by Tide Construction using Vision Modular Systems, were produced ‘offsite’ in a controlled assembly line environment and then taken to be assembled onsite.
The resulting 28,000 tonnes of combined embodied carbon emissions saved from construction across The Valentine, a student scheme and George Street, a build-to-rent scheme, was the equivalent of the CO2 absorbed by 1.3m trees in a year.
This is significantly ahead of industry targets such as the RIBA and LETI 2025 and 2030 targets, and demonstrates the potential of modular construction to radically reduce the carbon footprint associated with the UK government’s stated ambition to build 300,000 better quality homes annually.
Modular technology creates highly energy-efficient buildings
The offsite approach pioneered by Tide Construction yields a range of environmental and social benefits. The use of modular technology leads to highly energy-efficient buildings, with lower lifecycle operational and maintenance costs, while the quality control benefits inherent to the manufacturing process means defects are radically reduced.
Modular construction reduces onsite waste and vehicle movements both by around 80%, and the buildings themselves need fewer quantities of high-carbon materials in order to construct them, such as steel and concrete.
Factory-built homes minimise disruption in the community
Meanwhile, the level of disruption to the local communities where we build is minimised, thanks to a reduction in the amount of noise, dust, transport-related emissions and air pollution.
And since offsite manufacturing reduces potential onsite delays, it leads to a more dependable and reduced construction programme, resulting in an earlier return on investment for the client.
Faced with the twin-challenges of the climate crisis and a critical housing shortage, it is incumbent on the construction sector to decarbonise its operation, coupled with the necessary scaling up of delivery. Modular, volumetric technology should play a vital part in such aspirations.
Nick Hillard
ESG lead
Tide Construction
Tel: +44 (0)203 773 4101
