It was great to be speaking this week at the University of the West of England MMC conference alongside a brilliant group of people pushing the boundaries of industrialised construction. Edward Jezeph of Homes England led-off with an introduction to MMC, why it’s the future, did an honest assessment of successes and failures and outlined the volume of funding that will flow through the Social Affordable Housing Programme! Ele George highlighted just how far MMC has come, from platform thinking to delivery at scale and used the LEGO Group blocks as an elegant demonstration of the huge variety of options that come from systemised engineering. Grant Davies of Resipoint took us through how high density MEP solutions work to deliver large scale development solutions in housing and other sectors. There’s a real sense of momentum building across the sector, but they also point to the challenge we all know still exists: how we move from capability to consistent, scalable delivery. My contribution on Agile Homes work focused on a simple but critical point: MMC will not happily scale on a high Capex investment model. If we want to deliver housing at the pace and volume the UK needs, particularly in areas like Specialist Supported Housing and Temporary Accommodation, we have to rethink not just how we build, but how we finance and deploy manufacturing capacity. At Agile Homes, we have a different approach: • Low Capex, Distributed Manufacturing, or what we call “Flying Factory” • Materials from regenerative supply chains From Field & Forest to Front Door or F4D for short. • Delivery models aligned with local authority demand for social housing with long-term income models that pension funds can finance. • Integration of what we call Carbon and Social Value Trading as a new finance flow for affordable homes. The conversation is shifting, from “can MMC work?” to “how do we make it work everywhere?” That’s where the opportunity now sits. Thanks to Hector Archila at University of the West of England for hosting, and to everyone contributing to a genuinely constructive and forward-looking discussion. #MMC #ModernMethodsOfConstruction #HousingCrisis #LowCarbon #SocialValue #AgileHomes #OffsiteConstruction #Innovation #UWE

We’ve just submitted a planning application for Halton Senior Cohousing Group! Lucy Wood and Pat Steward worked closely with HSCG, a wonderful group of over 55s who choose to live together as a community. Fourteen homes, shared landscaped gardens and a common house where neighbours will meet, eat and share support with each other.  At Agile Homes we know that interdependence and independence combined for later life works. The landscape design is core to how the design works, swales, planting and people flow together. We were able exceed the Biodiversity Net Gain target entirely on site, in a relatively dense layout. Ground screws, rather than trench foundations keeps the hydrology of the site intact! The whole, definitely greater than the sum of its parts! #Cohousing #communityled #lowcarbon #affordablehomes

A pleasure to host the @educationgovuk & @ForestryComm at our centre for Low and Innovative Carbon Solutions. We talked all things timber, skills training & education, affordable homes & schools estate. A b We’re called Agile Homes but we also do low carbon affordable schools, because schools, community & housing are always interwoven. 🌱🌾🌳🏗️🏡🌍💚

We have just submitted a planning application for 14 new homes and Common House for Halton Senior CoHousing group, but this one is a little different! We call these homes Tam, and they can move! But these are definitely not caravans! Instead they are built to meet and exceed Building Regulations like any other homes. Triple glazed and super-insulated, airtight and made of renewable materials, they are truly low-carbon. So, we can lay them out using new and innovative integration with landscape and SUDs, creating a more coherent whole! This is why we’re called Agile Homes! We have worked closely with planners the local authority, landscape designers and engineers. A community-led development that sets a new and innovative standard for senior living. Well done Lucy Wood, Pat Steward and the rest of the team at Agile! #cohousing #communityled #lowcarbon #affordablehomes #SUDs #landscape

Carbon and Social Value Trading. What’s that? An affordable home has become the oxymoron of our time! It’s time to think differently about how we deliver properly affordable homes. At Agile Homes we’ve created a new finance flow we call CSVTs. This is 52 seconds from a seminar we are doing in collaboration with Macildowie Recruitment and Retention that explains how it works. Full video is here: youtu.be/r-9wDDU3E50?si=XuE3… Not compulsory viewing, but we think it will make a difference and so could be worth the watch! #affordablehomes #propertyladder @SustMeme @VSfromCrisis