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By Mike Ormesher, Ottersbrook Consulting The Government's ambition to increase council housebuilding is welcome. Few would argue against the need for more affordable homes, stronger local authority delivery and greater housing supply. But recent housing data highlights an important reality. The challenge facing the UK housing sector is not ambition. It's delivery. Latest ONS figures show that 40,770 homes were started across the UK in Q1 2026, up 14% on the previous year and

Recent industry forecasts suggest that UK private housing output could fall by around 10% in 2026 as developers face a combination of affordability pressures, higher borrowing costs, increasing regulatory obligations and market uncertainty. At first glance, the outlook appears concerning. However, a closer look at recent housing supply data presents a more complex picture. Government statistics show that new build housing starts during the first quarter of 2026 were 18% highe

Two stories , one from Australia and one from the UK, highlight something that those of us involved in industrialised construction have been saying for years. The future of construction is not about modular buildings. It is about industrialised delivery. At first glance, the articles posted today, appear to address different issues. Marathon in Australia is talking about design quality. Laing O'Rourke is talking about manufacturing investment. Yet both organisations are conve

Number of houses built between 1949 & 2023 (in England) Source - Statista - https://www.statista.com Recent comments from Andy Burnham have reignited debate and 'aspiration', for the future of council housing in England. While the ambition is both welcome and necessary, much of the groundwork required to deliver it has already been undertaken. Through the Open Social Housing Asset OSHA initiative, Ottersbrook and its partners have spent more than seven years developing practi

Guarantee Products Are Being Positioned as the Solution — But Delivery Reality Still Matters Ottersbrook Consulting works closely with Homes England, its programmes, and the wider ecosystem that supports housing delivery — including developers, manufacturers, registered providers, lenders, warranty providers, and government-backed initiatives. Our role typically sits at the interface between policy ambition and delivery reality — supporting clients with compliance strategy, D

To be or not to be? - The question we keep asking. Recent industry analysis highlights an ever-widening disconnect between national housing ambitions and the practical realities of delivery. Current projections suggest that new housing output in England is unlikely to approach the Government’s stated ambition of 300,000 homes per year in the near term. Instead, annual delivery over the remainder of the decade is expected to stabilise at a significantly lower level, (167,500 p

Here is a further case for Industrialised Construction rationale. The UK housing debate continues to focus on a familiar question:How many homes do we need to build? But that is no longer the right question. The real issue is how we deliver those homes — and whether the current system is capable of responding to the scale, speed and complexity of today’s demand. The Definition Problem: “Affordable” Isn’t Affordable The industry is increasingly acknowledging a fundamental disc

Ottersbrook is regularly approached by clients and industry stakeholders to provide updates, insight and guidance on the position of the British Board of Agrément (BBA), reflecting our long-standing reliance on the organisation, the volume of certification work we have supported through the organisation, and our previous involvement with BBA consultancy work at the BBA. While we set out below a summary based on publicly available information issued by both UKAS and the BBA, O

Ottersbrook is pleased to confirm that Mike Ormesher, General Manager and Director, has been selected to join an industry panel supporting the UK’s Industrialising & Digitalising Construction challenge, led through the UKRI Mission Accelerator Programme. This panel, referenced in Melissa Zanocco OBE’s announcement, brings together leading figures from across the built environment to shape the next phase of industrialised construction in the UK. The initiative itself is a nati

A recent industry report is reinforcing what many in the sector already recognise: modern methods of construction (MMC) and industrialised delivery are best unlocked through the right procurement model—not just the right technology. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI), in partnership with Browne Jacobson, has highlighted public-private partnerships (PPPs) as a key enabler for a more structured and scalable approach to infrastructure delivery. These models, by their na

By Same Stacey - A7C Limited 1. Unlocking MMC Capacity: The Hidden Inefficiency We Can No Longer Ignore From Unlocking MMC Capacity, the evidence is stark: MMC factories are running at just 40–60% utilisation — described by industry as “the single biggest barrier to scaling up MMC and industrialised construction.” This isn’t a skills problem. It’s a coordination problem. As the report states: “Unlocking downtime unlocks delivery. Unlocking delivery unlocks homes.” We alread

A new report from the Purposeful Finance Commission (PFC) has added weight to calls for fundamental reform in how social housing is planned, regulated and delivered in the UK. The Mind the (Viability) Gap report highlights the growing disparity between demand and supply, with more than 1.3 million households on waiting lists and fewer than 100,000 social homes delivered each year. It recommends the creation of “Olympic authority‑style” bodies for major housing schemes, supp