Turning ambition into action | Accelerating MMC housing delivery

February 2025 marked the New Homes in New Ways Summit at the Building Centre, where passionate built environment experts and thought leaders came together to support the delivery of social rent housing to meet the pressing crisis affecting so many people and nationwide.

As part of the event, Akerlof were excited to facilitate a 45-minute ‘fishbowl’ discussion designed to spark innovative, collaborative action to increase the delivery of social rent housing. Against a backdrop of 90,000 new social homes needed in England per year [i], the session focused on practical ways to harness Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) to meet urgent housing demand.

We were lucky to be joined by industry experts: Audley English MBE (Buildeco), Venus Galarza (Shelter), Dr Suzanne Peters (The Productivity Institute) and Ben Townend (Great Places Housing Group). Under Chatham House rules, we explored how we can move beyond ambition into tangible, scalable MMC adoption. Each speaker offered a brief reflection on the core question before opening the floor to the audience, who were able to bring their own unique insights to the conversation.

Our key question was “How do we turn ambition into action to accelerate MMC housing delivery?” The group was tasked with identifying solutions, sharing experiences, and recommending next steps to unlock MMC’s potential in meeting the nation’s housing needs.

We discussed how the chronic undersupply of affordable homes has led to a £2.3 billion annual spend on temporary accommodation, with a pressing need to deliver better-quality dwellings at pace and scale. We found that quality, standardisation, and forward-looking design can achieve real impact for society and the environment. Below you can find out more…

Recommended solutions to industry

1. Standardisation and value

We discussed how standardising core design elements (e.g., performance specifications, geometries, kitchens, bathrooms, and MEP) can increase consistency, reduce defects, and build confidence in MMC. This must be balanced with local adaption – especially in façades and site-specific layouts – to make sure homes meet planning and community needs.

The fishbowl emphasised the need to consider whole-life value of MMC, such as long-term maintenance, operational energy bills, and future decarbonisation, not just speed to market and build cost. However, we noted more data and studies are needed to evidence industry claims.

“A regional approach to standardised envelope performance and creating greater commonality in key elements of design…has the potential to unlock a shift towards modern methods of construction, improving procurement value, supply chain reliability, in-operation servicing and maintenance, and overall quality of homes built. Housing is so much more than building homes; we need a more cohesive consensus on the value that can be realised through delivering the right quality homes at scale, not just more homes at greater speed.” Ben Townend, Great Places Housing Group

2. Funding  and procurement

Next, we delved into the misaligned incentives in existing funding structures and tight budgets with fixed rent ceilings that make it difficult for housing providers to invest in higher standards, unless grants or subsidy levels reflect the true cost of quality MMC. Long-term funding certainty and procurement models that allow for innovative construction are vital to create robust MMC pipelines and tackle the chronic skills shortage*.

3. Collaboration and devolution

The fishbowl advocated ‘turbocharging devolution,’ with local authorities, housing associations, and MMC manufacturers forming regional consortia to pool resources, share lessons, and guarantee demand. Collaboration across government, industry, and third-sector organisations was deemed essential for aligning policy with practical delivery.

4. AI, Technology and skills

We discussed the critical need for workforce development to meet both traditional and MMC demand through apprenticeships, offsite manufacturing training, and upskilling programs.

Finally we discussed the exciting industry leaps that are likely to happen due to Artificial intelligence (AI), digital twins, and metaverse platforms that enable real-time performance tracking, streamline design, and reduce on-site errors.

“AI will force change within the sector; embrace it sooner rather than later. My belief and equation still hold true: ‘Metaverse + AI + Digital Twin = The Future.” Audley English, BuildEco

Recommended actions

1. Secure long-term funding streams: Government and funding bodies should provide multi-year budgets – tied to KPIs and higher-performance MMC solutions – to move beyond the piecemeal and short-term nature of current grants. Link funding to energy performance (above regulations), will ensure new homes do not require retrofits later.

2. Develop regional MMC consortia Encourage local authorities, housing associations, and suppliers to unite, enabling economies of scale through schemes such as the Welsh Government MMC framework, Building Better, CHIC and OSHA.

3. Champion skills and embrace AI: Invest in apprenticeships, AI, and digital twin technologies that can raise quality, reduce site labour, track real-time performance data and inspire the next generation.

4. Consistently measure and share performance MMC data: Collect data during and post completion. Use post-occupancy evaluations to demonstrate real-world benefits – such as lower bills, fewer defects, and improved tenant health and wellbeing.

Ambition alone is not enough: to truly accelerate MMC to address the social housing crisis we need aligned funding, regional collaboration, higher performance standards, and the harnessing of new technologies.

The call to action:

• Break out of the silos and work together: Work across government, industry, and communities to build the right quality homes, at the right pace, for those who need them most.
• Lobby for change: Engage and lobby local MPs and national representatives for policy frameworks and funding that fully recognise MMC’s potential to address the acute shortages in skills and housing to provide good quality homes for all.
• Support whole life value procurement: Work on procurement routes that look towards whole-life value and encourage standardisation that balances manufacturer requirements and energy efficiency with local requirements. This will help the sector to deliver homes that are both affordable to residents and sustainable over the long term.

This holistic, future-focused vision will help us to reshape the housing sector, not just social housing delivery, but the wider construction sector.

* An extra 251,500 extra construction workers by 2028 to meet the expected levels of work in construction
[i] 2024, Shelter, Brick by Brick: A Plan to Deliver the Social Homes We Need
[ii] 2024, CITB, Construction Industry Outlook – 2024-2028

Akerlof is a built environment consultancy and B Corp, specialised in delivering impactful and viable solutions to housing’s biggest challenges. We use our 75+ years of collective experience among our Partners to provide strategic, cost, social impact and operational support to our clients to unlock impactful solutions within the built environment. You can find out more here

Housing Festival is a think-and-do tank. Their goal is to find innovative and scalable housing solutions, implemented, and refined in the real-world. They lead projects, initiate and convene conversations, and change working with experts collaborating to solve complex and wicked problems. You can find out more here

The Building Centre is a hub for the built environment, providing a platform for the exchange and development of knowledge. Established in 1931, the Building Centre is unique in representing and bringing together the different disciplines that form the built environment industry. Every year the Building Centre showcases an array of programmes for the architecture, construction and building industries. Find out more about partnering with the Building Centre here