The debate around the government’s plans to build 1.5 million homes during this parliament continues to gain significant column inches.
But with the focus on how many and where to build these new houses, we’re at risk of overlooking what future residents actually want from their homes.
Earlier this year, UK Concrete commissioned Opinium to conduct some in-depth research about public attitudes to their homes, how they are built, and what they value in them.
The report, ‘Homes 2025: A National Conversation’, took on board the views of 5,000 homeowners, private and social renters across the UK, including residents living in medium to high rise buildings. The report findings were revealing, helping to underline the value that people put on the fabric quality and performance of their home to deliver energy efficiency but also to protect against damp, mould, flooding and fire.
Fire resilience emerged as a key issue for the public, with 87 per cent saying that having their home constructed from fire-resistant materials was important.
And in a changing climate, 90 per cent of people rated construction of their home from materials that protect against water ingress as important. Asked what they most feared happening to their current home, a quarter of respondents selected “leaks or escape of water.”
This supports the UK Green Building Council’s recently published UK Climate Resilience Roadmap, which states that our buildings, whether homes, workplaces or public buildings, should act as the first line of defence in a changing climate. This includes ensuring that properties are energy efficient as well as highly resilient, protect against water ingress and wildfire, and do not overheat.
So how do we meet the demand whilst also ensuring that new homes are affordable, resilient in the face of climate change and above all, safe?
Precast concrete is an established modern method of construction (MMC) offsite solution and can play a vital role in delivery of the next generation of high-quality, durable homes. Part of an essential UK concrete manufacturing sector, precast uses homegrown materials which reduces the demand for imports, ensures security of supply while cutting carbon and protecting high skilled jobs.
Using precast concrete panels to build flooring and walls in new developments has proven to offer high levels of structural integrity, durability, fire resistance and acoustic performance which are essential to the design of safe, quality housing.
Precast construction can equally build new homes on a large scale whilst implementing energy efficient solutions that are repeatable and reliable, such as installing insulation, glazing and thermal broken fixings for balconies.
Combining good ventilation and precast concrete in the construction of homes can also deliver energy efficient passive cooling and reduce the risk of overheating.
With ambitious housing targets to reach over the next four years and increasing spatial constraints in our towns and cities, many developments are targeting taller structures. Precast concrete components enable faster construction and repeatable designs, making it an ideal construction method for medium and high-rise housing developments. These can also be designed for a long service life to support reuse in the building or designed for disassembly and reuse elsewhere.
Manufactured in factories offsite which include a rigorous quality control process ensures that all of the precast elements are of the highest quality before being transported to site and installed. Importantly, significant time savings can also be achieved, from just-in-time delivery on site through to delivering faster build programmes.
From quality and efficiency through to the threat of fire and a changing climate, these are the issues of importance to homeowners and renters in 2025, and all are impacted by the fabric of construction of new homes. Using precast concrete at scale can create the affordable, good quality and highly resilient housing that people across the UK increasingly want to see.
Birmingham’s newest precast jewel
Prosperity Group: JQ Rise, Birmingham
FP McCann has recently completed a precast concrete structural and architectural supply and install project in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. The £35 million JQ Rise development consists of 226 modern apartments and is a shining example of how precast concrete and MMC can create affordable, quality housing efficiently on a large scale.
Made up of three blocks of four, eight and 25 storeys, the building’s façade has a red brick aspect to complement the immediate surrounding urban environment.
Key elements manufactured offsite included the structure, designed as a precast concrete internal cross-wall; and on the exterior, architectural sandwich panel cladding.
The design involved precast concrete core and party walls, prestressed hollowcore flooring planks, lift cores, precast stair cores and stair landings.
Integral to the structural design were the architectural brick-faced insulated sandwich panels, offering an attractive red and blue-grey external finish to the building on all levels.
Precast concrete columns and beams were installed at the ground floor level to carry the walls above.
As is typical of offsite precast concrete structural builds, the housing development was completed in just 56 weeks, a 40-60% reduction in construction time compared to traditional build methods.
Project Manager Anthony Grant for Prosperity Group commented: “Traditional construction methods, while tried and tested, are increasingly inadequate to meet the soaring demand for quality, affordable housing. The JQ Rise housing project clearly demonstrates that offsite construction and MMC in urban locations help address the current housing challenge and lay the groundwork for a more efficient and sustainable home-building sector. By embracing these methods, we can build faster, reduce our environmental impact and provide quality, affordable living space.”