Meeting challenges with MMC

Following the success of the Design for Manufacture competition, in September 2007 English Partnerships announced the Carbon Challenge - the challenge being to build quality sustainable homes that meet level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

The first off-site technology exhibition organised by BRE was in 2003. In 2005, the modern methods of construction (MMC) exhibition showcased several leading manufacturers and suppliers to the construction industry, all of whom were advocating the benefits of off-site manufacture. The components could be designed for individual needs in contemporary design, and contributed to a part of or the whole of a building. The main sector of attention was residential. In addition to off-site techniques, several manufacturers extolled the benefits of their innovative systems that could be assembled on-site.

At the 2007 exhibition there was a marked change. The buzzwords were sustainability and renewable energy. There were examples of housing using photovoltaic panels on roofs to generate electricity, solar powered hot water generation and small wind turbines. At the 2009 exhibition, the talk had moved on again, to low carbon. The word carbon and its associated themes (such as zero carbon, low carbon, carbon footprint, the carbon challenge, bio-diversity, CO2 emissions, global warming, renewable energy, green house gas, climate change and recycling) now dominate our news and media.

Sustainability in property explains the drivers behind the need for sustainable property and construction; here it is important to note that this need is compounded by a desire to build more houses in the UK.

The government have met the challenge of creating sustainable property by introducing new legislation, notably Part L of the Building Regulations and the Code for Sustainable Homes. The code sets out a series of performance levels from 1 (low) to 6 (high) stars for new buildings. Targets are currently set as level 4 for 2010, climbing to level 6 in 2016, with its aim being to reduce the amount of energy required to build the house, run the house and to reduce the houses water consumption. Achieving level 6 means a house will be zero-carbon rated.

Achieving code 5 and 6 is likely to to be one of the biggest challenges met by the construction industry, certainly for large developments, as it is likely to require renewables technology to score the points for level 5 and 6, but at an affordable level. Achieving level 6 depends on a number of criteria and the off-site construction industry is investing time and money into plant and technology that will help to achieve this.