Summary
ASBP is pleased to support the SHELTER (Sustainable Housing for Eco-friendly Living and Thriving EnviRonments) research project, led by the University of York, which is exploring the challenges affecting offsite construction with biogenic materials in UK housing.
Context
Modular housing manufactured offsite from bio-based building materials, like timber, and quickly assembled on-site, could help address the overlapping climate, housing, building safety and cost of living crises by providing low-carbon, low-waste, high quality, easily adaptable, energy efficient homes at speed for a lower price than traditional homes, supporting population and planetary health.
Offsite construction and biogenic building materials are emerging, sometimes faltering, industries in the UK. Just 5% of new private housing projects involved offsite construction in 2023 while three offsite construction companies recently collapsed. However, this construction method and materials are well-established in other housing markets, and in sections of the UK property industry. In Sweden, some 45% of all housing produced involves offsite manufacturing while wood construction is prevalent with 20% of apartment schemes wood constructed in 2019. In the UK’s industrial property sector almost 30% of projects involved offsite construction in 2023.
Barriers to the widespread use of offsite construction and biogenic building materials in UK housing have been documented in recent grey literature. This literature, however, considers barriers separately for this method and materials, the relative impact of different factors requires further evaluation, and, while potentially presenting important lessons, our understanding of how success has been achieved in other markets and sectors needs development.
Aims and objectives of the project
Responding to these issues, this project aims to build, and share with key stakeholders, knowledge of the challenges affecting offsite construction with biogenic materials in UK housing. The following objectives steer the project:
- Define, integrate and evaluate factors impacting wider use of offsite construction and biogenic building materials in UK housing.
- Identify the factors that have enabled offsite construction and biogenic building materials to succeed in relevant countries (e.g. Sweden) and sectors (e.g. UK’s industrial sector).
- Translate and transform knowledge for stakeholders’ use.
- Define a research agenda to support growth in offsite construction with bio-building materials in conjunction with stakeholders.
The Principal Investigator for the project is:
- Katherine Brookfield, Department of Environment and Geography
Co-Investigators include Avtar Matharu and Nic Carslaw, who spoke at our Healthy Buildings Conference in 2022 (see recording here).
- Avtar Matharu – The Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence (GCCE)
- Duncan MacQuarrie – The Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence (GCCE)
- Nic Carslaw – Department of Environment and Geography Department
- Louise Cook – Department of Archaeology
- Nicholas Pleace – School of Business and Society
The project is being supported by Richard Broad, Director, ASBP (Chair of ASBP working groups on Natural Fibre Insulation, Paints & Finishes and Lime Products).
“We are pleased to support Katherine and the expert team from University of York with this important research. ASBP members are leading the way on this topic but there is work to be done to overcome barriers to widepsread adoption.
By learning from our peers in Europe and from other sectors in the UK, the project will help set an agenda of further research to help support growth of bio-based off-site construction in the UK.”
Richard Broad, Director, ASBP
Further information
For further information about the project, please contact Katherine Brookfield – k.brookfield@york.ac.uk.