Housing: Modern Methods of Construction

Lord Moylan Excerpts

Thursday 5th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Moylan (Con)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Carrington of Fulham for introducing this debate, especially when I had to withdraw due to a change of circumstances. It was a privilege for me to chair the short inquiry into modern methods of construction, undertaken by the Built Environment Select Committee. I add a word of thanks, although time precludes me from naming them all, to the clerks and the team that supported that inquiry when we undertook it.

Ten years ago, modern methods of construction were the future, particularly the top level of MMC, which is modular construction, where a whole unit—a whole home—can be built off-site, more or less, and be delivered to the site. However, in the last couple of years, most of the firms engaged in that activity have either withdrawn from the market or closed. The purpose of our inquiry was to try to find out why.

Time precludes me from explaining at great length why that is, but we certainly found disarray at the heart of government. The policy was good, but the implementation was almost totally absent. Reference has been made to the committee that never met. I also refer to the strange attitude of Homes England, which claimed that it had a strategy in the shape of the five Ss—five words that all began with S—but when we asked for the document that underlaid the strategy, it was not able to produce it. I hope that the new Government will look very carefully at that.

What is the role of government in this? It is very important for the Government to have a regulatory role that unblocks some of the things identified by my noble friend when he introduced the debate. I would be very cautious on one matter: I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, that you cannot switch a factory on and off. Many of these firms are demanding a pipeline but, as he said, every factory needs a pipeline. Why is it that the Government should supply the pipeline in this case, rather than encouraging these firms to go out and find and create their own market?