Scaling Industrialised Housing Construction - Global Learnings
Modern methods of construction (MMC) offer the construction industry the opportunity to build homes faster, more efficiently, and at a higher quality. Because of these benefits, for years we have discussed as an innovation centre how we can help scale this solution, so that it can become a mainstream standard.
While a wide range of barriers exists internationally, with up to 47 identified in a recent review of the barriers to offsite construction, the main challenge to overcome may be closer to home. The research shows us that a lack of skills and expertise is one of the most frequent barriers. Therefore, knowledge and sharing that knowledge from those already succeeding is key to scaling modular and offsite solutions.
MOD X is a heavily influential organisation from the United States whose mission centres around this learning journey around offsite construction. It regularly tours leading offsite regions, including Japan, Germany, Sweden and more, to collect lessons learned to influence policy and tackle the housing challenges faced in their home country. Their experience, in turn, makes them a unique repository of international offsite construction knowledge gathered from across the globe.
Ryan E Smith, Founding Partner of MOD X and Managing Partner Tyler Schmetterer are visiting Scotland as their next tour for BE-ST Fest ’25 as part of an international delegation to continue their learning journey and present multi-year research and recommendations for the U.S. Government to accelerate and scale offsite construction. Ahead of MOD X’s keynote on 5th November at Paisley Town Hall, Ryan and Tyler share their work and insights as the go-to advisory body for offsite construction in the United States.
To what extent is the offsite construction industry scaling in the United States?
The U.S. housing sector was significantly more industrialised in the 1970s than it is today.
The residential construction sector (less than 5 stories) is comprised of 75%+ timber frame structures. However, industrialised MMC constitutes no more than 5% of total market share, with volumetric modular methods the most prevalent form of factory production.
So, why has U.S. industrialised housing delivery regressed over the past 50+ years and not advanced as we have witnessed in countries like Sweden, Japan, Germany, and Austria? What were the catalysts that allowed these more mature offsite markets to evolve and continue to scale over time? What key learnings can we capture and implement in the U.S. to foster offsite housing innovation and scalable growth to address a national housing crisis?
These are some of the critical questions that form the basis of our research and advisory work at MOD X.
How is MOD X’s work helping offsite scale further, locally and internationally?
Over the past several years, MOD X has been collaborating with the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to identify regulatory and other barriers to offsite construction adoption and recommend actions to accelerate and scale industrialised housing delivery in the U.S.
This effort has included key partners across the industrialised housing ecosystem representing government (national, regional, local), industry, academia, and NGO sectors from the U.S., UK, Ireland, Sweden, Japan, and others.
MOD X has invested significant time and resources cultivating a global knowledge exchange network since we’ve formed a fundamental belief that international dialogue is essential to evolve the offsite construction industry forward across the world. There is indeed much to share, learn, and apply across all national contexts.
What are some of MOD X’s projects?
MOD X’s research efforts and recommendations focus on the need for institutional change to address systemic contextual barriers that limit the advancement of industrialised housing delivery. For example, one key finding detailed in this work has been the importance and impact of regional knowledge management and technology innovation hubs, similar to BE-ST in Scotland.
Building upon several years of domestic and international research, MOD X conducts a range of research, including the ‘Offsite Construction for Housing: Research Roadmap’ (MOD X, 2023), an industry-wide roadmap that highlights research topics to overcome obstacles that prevent scalable growth and market penetration of offsite construction, and identifies topics and questions to focus research and development efforts.
Also, we are working with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on publishing a comprehensive research report that examines HUD’s past and present role, along with peer organisations in Japan, Sweden, and the UK, and the motivations, strategies, tactics, partnerships, and impacts in these contexts resulting in a conceptual model for planning and implementing effective government-led action. In addition, in partnership with HUD, a coordinated project is taking place with several U.S. regions to develop Regional Offsite Action Plans and Pilot Programs that will identify regulatory and other barriers to offsite construction adoption in each region, and develop strategic plans to support regional offsite construction growth.
In addition to research work supported by federal, state, and city governments, MOD X provides three service offerings that aim to transform housing delivery: Advise, Exchange, and Educate.
MOD X is actively advising established and new industry players in the industrialised housing space with a research-informed approach. We have developed a MOD X Offsite Accelerator™, an educational programme developed to help participants to strategically anticipate the future of offsite housing to formulate timely business decisions. And we leverage our unique international network to coordinate immersive learning exchange events that include factory, site, and project tours rooted in symposia for maximal knowledge transfer.