INTERNATIONAL TRENDS IN CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGIES AND THE FUTURE OF HOUSEBUILDING

This article draws on international evidence on changing construction technologies against the background of future trends in UK housebuilding. There is evidence that housing construction in the UK is inadequate to meet social needs. Major changes in housing finance policy are probably needed to deal with this problem. It is suggested that shortages of traditional skills, together with needs to comply with stringent environmental regulations, may well lead to future housing programmes depending on extensive use of new technologies. Industrialized housing construction techniques have been used successfully in some countries, and the article adduces evidence from this experience. However, in the absence of adequate investment in R&D and training of construction workers, there is a grave danger that industrialized building could result in the construction of poor-quality, expensive-to-maintain housing, as it did in the UK in the 1960s. The utilization of new housing technologies needs to be evaluated in a broad context in order to determine the priorities for R&D, changes in production processes and training programmes.