The current government has committed itself to an ambitious plan to build an estimated three million new homes in areas currently suffering housing shortages. In addition to this, is the news that the number of new mortgage approvals has hit a record low, reports of falling house prices, acute skill shortages in traditional techniques and an increasing demand for sustainable construction, all resulting in the UK housing market reaching a turning point.

All of these factors have led to an increased interest in modern methods of construction (MMC) and in particular, the viable alternative of steel based housing systems. This certainly presents an attractive market for a number of developers and housebuilders.

The UK construction market is one of the most steel intensive in the world, with steel proving to be the material of choice for UK architects and structural engineers in the multi-storey building market. The 2007 Market Shares Survey figures show steel construction consistently takes in excess of 70 per cent over double the market share compared to when the survey was first carried out in the early 1980s.

Alan Todd, Corus General Manager comments: ‘The performance of steel in the construction market has been one of the greatest industrial success stories of the post war period in the UK. It is no surprise that the 2007 survey confirms that the continuing competitive advantage of steel is appreciated by designers, clients and specifiers alike’.

There is no denying that the steel sector is thriving but the industry firmly believes that there is room for growth. One of the biggest new opportunities and indeed challenges for the steel sector lies with the residential market, where the knowledge of the physical benefits of steel is continually growing. Increasingly, housebuilders and developers are looking more closely at things such as speed of construction and project predictability – areas that can generate earlier financial returns. This is where the steel based construction, which has always been an off-site construction technique, really comes into its own.

The market for steel homes has grown rapidly in recent years, partly driven by the need for increased numbers of homes and partly by an acknowledgement that MMC can deliver high quality homes that offer value for money, reductions in waste and unrivalled sustainable benefits.

By its very nature, steel based off-site construction gives rise to more predictable construction programmes, along with predictable cost, construction quality, programme timing and project handover with faster lead in and onsite project commencement, allowing earlier use and business income return. Ultimately, this can result in the overall construction programme being reduced by up to 60 per cent compared with conventionally constructed buildings.

Leading by Example

Corus is already demonstrating the benefits of steel systems and off-site fabrication in the residential market. As one of the lead UK Manubuild project partners, Corus is developing a new building system to provide efficient construction whilst also offering flexibility both in terms of design and use. Manubuild is a four-year European research and development project, co-funded by the European Commission. Involving 22 partners from eight countries, Manubuild has a vision of a future where customers will be able to purchase high quality, manufactured buildings that offer a high degree of design flexibility at low cost.

Using system-engineering principles, the resulting prototype has been developed principally for use in the construction of two and seven storey residential developments. It is a hybrid of frame and infill panels, the prototype enables construction in stick form, panels or 3D volumetric units, and works on the principle of a frame and infill system. The mainframe is hot-rolled steel and typically uses regular or square hollow sections with a width of 100mm for both columns and beams to provide a standard interface that can be in filled with floor and non-load bearing wall panels to complete the building.

The prototype is based on currently available main components, which can be connected in a variety of ways to suit the individual project to allow flexibility in the level of work carried out off-site. Connections include innovative bolt connections to allow complete demountability, location systems and welded connections, all of which can be used in isolation or as part of a combined system.

Corus has been able to create a system prototype that helps to maximise flexibility and the value of space to the end-user on a mass scale using manufactured components that provide greater efficiency and speed of change. When considered in the context of off-site fabrication, Corus has designed construction flexibility requirements into the prototype module giving it the capacity to facilitate the construction of buildings in a range of different ways. In other words, one system can be used in the same building in a number of different ways depending on project preferences.

The Future

The knowledge of steels off-site manufacturing credentials is rapidly growing within the residential market, fuelled by recent events in the housing market, the Government’s drive to build homes faster and the introduction of MMC into the construction industry. As a result, the steel frame market is due to capitalise on this as OSM in the residential market is expected to increase three-fold to £300million by 2009.

With its speed of construction, cost-effectiveness, outstanding performance, and unparalleled sustainable qualities, steels off-site construction techniques provides a genuine opportunity for the construction industry to meet growing, and sometimes conflicting demands, in providing affordable housing in today’s difficult housing market.