Ireland could move to majority of homes built in factories off site

A construction conference has heard of the potential for modular homes, built off-site.

Off-site construction of modules for residential and commercial projects is expected to grow significantly. Picture: iStock

The majority of new homes in Ireland could eventually be built in factories off-site, a Construction Industry Federation conference has heard.

With Ireland's chronic housing shortage and undersupply set to continue into the future, the 2021 Digital Construction Summit held today heard from a number of speakers on ways the challenges in the construction industry could be met.

In his opening address to the conference, the CIF's director of specialist contracting Sean Downey said the industry needed to adjust the way it operates in order to meet the challenges of climate change, the digitisation of the sector, and supply-chain optimisation through the greater use of off-site manufacturing.

He also cited a report completed recently for Enterprise Ireland UK which shows that 60% of the traditional ‘stick built’ sector will go to an off-site delivery model within five years.

Micheál Keohane, a director with BAM Ireland and Modern Homes Ireland, which specialises in modular homes, told DigiCon that when constructed off-site, a pair of semi-detached houses can be brought to site and are in place in less than a day — 90% complete and fully weather-tight. He said that alongside the speed there were a range of other benefits. 

"There are eight times the off-site quality checks than there ever could be on-site," he said.

It reduces carbon by 40%, reduces waste by potentially 80%. It's five times safer. Pace, quality, and environmental considerations are tantamount to what we are about, and off-site achieves that."

Paul Carty, director of construction in Ireland for Ballymore, which has 15,000 homes under constriction in Ireland and the UK, said modular and off-site construction still only forms 7%-10% of the industry.

"It's a very low volume," he said. "However, the private sector isn't able to sustain the modular industry in its own right, so the public sector needs to step in here.

"If running a factory, you need to feed the factory continually. It's very important that the industry recognises this. 

While the private sector will have fits and starts, the public sector needs to fill these low troughs to keep the modular buildings going."

He said certain buildings lend themselves to modular construction, including schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and student residences. 

Mr Keohane said the industry was looking at a significant transformation in the construction business. 

"We deliver approximately 4,000 units per year between Ireland, the UK, and the Netherlands," he said. 

"We deliver a lot of homes and housing, and we are certainly looking to try and move that to 80% or 90% of that being fully built off-site."