Modular: 21st Century Construction,19th Century Technology?

Martin Wadsworth, Managing Director of Discrete Heat, discusses what’s really happening in the modular construction market and how it’s impacting on building product manufacturers.

When you think of modular construction, what do you imagine? A sleek production line, populated with bright yellow ABB Robots skivvying around bolting houses together, whilst a few engineers in lab coats and safety glasses studiously tick off their clip boards? Or a ‘mobile home’ on wheels being shunted through an old aircraft hangar as plumbers, plasterers, sparkies and roofers scurry all over it, glad of the fact it’s not raining? Or even a couple of builders knocking up oversized sheds in an abandoned warehouse? Take your pick – I’ve seen them all.

To be fair, most of the modular companies we’re dealing with aspire to the first imagining, even though in reality they’re some way away from that. However there is one company that is investing heavily in bright yellow robots with a view to creating a car-like production line producing dozens of shiny new houses a week rather than saloons and SUVs.

For many modular manufacturers, waiting for the big orders to land (why are so many players talking about 10,000 a year in 2-3 years’ time – how about doing 50 this year & 100 next year?) it’s a battle to keep the lights on, as setting up a factory consumes cash like a donkey eats strawberries.

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