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Government plans 100,000 modular homes to tackle housing crisis

31 Oct 16 The Government is planning a new wave of 100,000 modular to help deal with the housing shortage, according to a new report.

A white paper which will be published next month will include measures encouraging banks to lend to off-site home builders, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Ministers have  reportedlybeen impressed with construction speeds of the latest prefabs, with some erected on site in just 48 hours.

A government source told The Telegraph: “The first and most obvious advantage is speeding up the building of housing. There is pretty good evidence that if you did it at scale it is cheaper.�

House building has lagged behind targets for several years, with planning permission and a skills shortage cited as reasons for the delays.

The Communities Department hopes the measures will lead to 100,000 off-site manufactured home being built over this parliament.

Gavin Barwell, the housing minister, said: “Offsite construction could provide a huge opportunity to increase housing supply and we want to see more innovation like this emulated across the housebuilding sector.�

The Government is looking at two areas of potential support. Firstly, providing direct funding to help firms build new prefabs. Secondly, convincing risk-averse lenders to give out more loans. 

Ministers have visited Accord Group, a housing association in the West Midlands, which claims it can produce a three-bedroom house from scratch in a day at its factory. 

Pocket, a London-based firm building affordable flats for first-time buyers, has also been visited by Barwell and communities secretary Sajid Javid.

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