Edward Jezeph, MMC and innovation lead at Homes England, discusses the difficult but necessary cultural change in the construction industry
The construction industry, particularly in the residential sector, is at a crossroads. The need for faster, higher-quality homes has never been more urgent, with growing pressure to address the housing crisis and meet ambitious supply targets.
Offsite and Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), have demonstrated their ability to enhance the delivery of high-quality homes more quickly and at scale. Despite these known advantages, the real challenge lies in how the industry adopts and integrates these innovations into the existing commercial context and culture.
The Hackitt Report: Evidencing the need for cultural change
The Hackitt Report, published in response to the tragic Grenfell Tower fire, provides a critical framework for understanding why the construction industry must undergo significant cultural change. One of the report’s key findings was that a fragmented approach to construction — where different parties (designers, contractors, suppliers) work in isolation — was a contributing factor to the disaster. This lack of communication and accountability led to poor decision-making and potentially dangerous deviations from approved designs.
Offsite construction and MMC, which cover a wide range of different technologies, offer a potential solution to these issues. By requiring a design freeze before construction begins, where all aspects of the design are finalised and agreed upon, offsite manufacturing can potentially eliminate costly and dangerous changes during the build.
The Hackitt Report highlighted that such variations during construction were key in the failures surrounding the Grenfell fire. By adhering to an integrated design and construction process, offsite construction could reduce the risks associated with the traditional model.
In addition to improving safety, offsite construction aligns with the Hackitt Report’s recommendation for a more rigorous regulatory framework. By allowing for greater control over the construction process, offsite manufacturing can ensure that projects are built to the exact specifications of approved plans.
There is real potential in the collaborative approach it demands, where designers, manufacturers, and contractors work closely together. This teamwork is crucial for fostering accountability, enhancing communication, and ensuring that safety and quality are consistently prioritised throughout the entire project, which are all essential to the successful implementation of offsite construction.
Innovation and the theory of change
While offsite construction methods show great promise, the theory of change remains the missing link. The challenge lies not in the technology itself but in how these innovations are integrated into the existing construction ecosystem. Traditional construction practices are deeply ingrained, with well-established contracting processes and construction methods. Shifting the industry to embrace new approaches requires more than just introducing new technology; it requires a fundamental change in how the industry thinks about and executes construction.
A significant cultural shift is necessary for offsite construction to be successful. For one, the traditional method of evolving designs throughout the construction process must be replaced with a more structured approach. Offsite manufacturing demands a fully finalised design and delivery programme before work begins. This ensures that everyone involved, from architects and engineers to contractors and builders, is on the same page. It also eliminates the uncertainty and costly revisions that often arise when designs are changed mid-project.
This shift in thinking is part of a broader movement toward integrating innovations more effectively into construction. In many ways, the construction industry has failed to adopt new technologies quickly enough because of the difficulty of disrupting and challenging established practices.
To accelerate the diffusion of innovation, the industry must shift its focus towards considering cost and value in relation to the outcomes and quality it aims to achieve. The emphasis should be on delivering the desired outcomes, such as high quality and sustainability, in the most cost-effective way possible. This approach ensures that both cost and value are aligned with the goals of the project, enabling the delivery of superior results without unnecessary expenditure.
To foster this change, the industry must also embrace a mindset of continuous improvement. In the past, problems during the construction process have often been seen as something to be talked down, saying, “These things happen” and “Every project has its challenges”.
While challenges do, of course, arise in a project, it isn’t inconceivable that they could have been avoided. A framework for achieving this could be the adoption of a “black box thinking” approach similar to that used in aviation. Construction professionals can share and learn from mistakes rather than adopting a potentially litigious blame culture. Black box thinking encourages the investigation of failures to understand what went wrong and how it can be prevented in the future. This mindset is also the key to enabling and improving offsite construction methods and speeding up their adoption.
The role of government and policy
The government’s role in supporting the shift towards MMC and offsite construction is crucial. In September 2024, Baroness Taylor addressed the House of Lords on the importance of MMC in addressing the housing crisis. The government’s ambitious goal is to build 1.5m homes over the next parliamentary term, with MMC playing an “important role” in achieving this target.
Baroness Taylor argued that “The benefits MMC brings are truly impressive. It can help to deliver high-quality greener homes more quickly than traditional methods, which is good news for boosting supply, and for the environment.”
However, for MMC to reach its full potential, the government must also ensure that the necessary regulatory frameworks are in place. The housing ministry, MHCLG, is working with industry to develop PAS 8700, a new standard for residential MMC construction.
This follows recently published research into the safety considerations of MMC delivery with Harlow Consulting and Edinburgh Napier University. Industry is also developing its knowledge and guidance, for example warranty provider NHBC published its first MMC construction standards in January 2025.
Rising standards are key to supporting the delivery of homes using MMC. The Future Homes Standard, which focuses on improving the energy performance of new homes, will likely drive further adoption of alternative construction techniques. Additionally, the Building Safety Act and the focus on building safety remediation will encourage the industry to adopt a “build it once, build it right” mentality, aligning with the principles of offsite construction.
Homes England: A partner for housing innovation
We are England’s housing and regeneration agency, with an important mission to drive forward the creation of high-quality, sustainable homes and thriving places. Homes England will always be the natural partner for housing innovators; we believe in better housing and will support those who want to deliver it with us.
We support housing delivery through a range of solutions and housing programmes, Affordable Housing grants for eligible organisations, including Local Authorities and Housing Associations, development finance for private SME builders through our Home Building Fund, equity investment with our institutional investment partners, and disposal of public land via our DPS framework.
We support MMC and offsite delivery across all our major housing programmes. These programmes have supported our partners in completing over 30,000 homes last year, and we also started the construction of another 35,600 homes. Homes England will continue supporting the delivery of 1,000’s of homes using a wide range of MMC technologies and solutions as the market continues to strive towards our shared housing goals and grapples with capacity, quality and capability challenges.
Conclusion: A new era for the construction industry
The construction industry stands at a critical juncture. While the tools and innovations to deliver higher-quality, more sustainable homes at a faster pace are available, the real challenge lies in shifting the industry’s culture and integrating these innovations into existing systems. The lessons of the Hackitt Report, combined with the potential of offsite construction, offer a roadmap for addressing the industry’s deep-rooted issues of accountability, communication, and safety.
For this shift to happen, the industry must embrace a more integrated, collaborative approach to construction. This will require a comprehensive theory of change, one that moves beyond traditional practices and embraces new methods, such as offsite construction. With the support of the government, regulatory bodies, and organisations like Homes England, the industry can evolve and deliver the high-quality and affordable homes needed to meet the growing demand.
In the end, the construction industry must recognise that innovation alone is not enough. Only through cultural change, a shift in thinking, and a commitment to continuous improvement can the industry meet the challenges of the future.
