In response to the King’s speech yesterday at the State Opening of Parliament, the Structural Timber Association (STA) is calling on the new Labour Government to recognise that delivering its manifesto pledge of building 1.5 million homes will require a significant change in focus and a rapid shift towards more sustainable building technologies, primarily offsite timber frame.

In her first speech as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves underlined the new Government’s commitment to housing, announcing that it will reinstate mandatory housing targets for Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) and will open a consultation on a new approach to planning before the end of the month, to support delivery of 1.5m homes over the next 5 years.

To meet this demand for homes and achieve our net zero obligations, we need to embrace change. Change in how we build, the materials we use, and the way we attract new people into the construction industry. There is existing capacity in the established structural timber manufacturing sector of 120 members to double timber frame manufacturing output to achieve 100,000 homes per annum, and the Structural Timber Association believes that this contribution of 33% of the Government’s target would be a major step forward.

Andrew Carpenter, Chief Executive Officer of the STA, commented: “The STA whole-heartedly supports The Chancellor’s ambitious plans for housing growth, but we must emphasise that simply building more houses is not enough; we must embrace a fundamental change in the way we build our homes. As a clean technology that offers lower carbon than other building materials, automated offsite manufacture for better quality and shorter construction times, structural timber is the quickest way to bring about this change.

“The structural timber industry has the capacity and capable to support the new Government in building 300,000 homes a year. With increased automation in offsite manufacture, the structural timber sector can deliver both higher volumes and better quality.

“Indeed, many of the major housebuilders are already recognising that we’ve reached a tipping point within the industry, with companies including Vistry, Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Developments, Cala Homes and Avant Homes seeing the benefits of building in offsite timber frame.

“Our industry requires clear actionable policies, policies that put MMC and Carbon Reduction, and therefore structural timber, at the forefront of supporting Government in the delivery of their housing goals. The policies put in place now will have a significant impact on the UK’s ability to deliver housing targets, great places to live and reducing carbon to achieve net zero. This will be the legacy for decades to come.

“We urge Government to renew the commitment to increasing the use of timber in the Timber in Construction Policy Roadmap, published by DEFRA in December last year – some important progress has already been made and it’s vital that we continue this momentum.”

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