Solving the housing crisis with Mark Farmer

The Infrastructure Podcast

In today's podcast we talk about housing – specifically what needs to happen to ensure that the construction sector is set to meet the new government’s ambitious target of building 1.5 million new homes over the next five years.

There is no question that when we look back at the past performance of housebuilding in the UK, we have some way to go to meet this 300,000+ new homes a year target.

The reality is that new house building numbers have rarely nudged over 200,000 a year in the last 40 years. That was, of course the point in time that local authority housing investment really dried up, handing the task largely over to the private sector and market forces.

There are signs that the new government wants this to change. The recent announcement by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner on planning and housing targets underlined a clear ambition to challenge and support local authorities.

But as many have already pointed out, there is no silver bullet to solving the housing crisis. When it comes to delivering on these housing targets, the nation and the construction industry still faces a rake of challenges beyond removing the planning obstacles that the government has initially – and probably rightly targeted.

With this week seeing publication of the long awaited Moore-Bick report into the 2017 Grenfell fire, which will be another sobering moment for construction.

It will, I am sure, reinforce the need to transform the sector away from low cost, low quality model highlighted by Dame Judith Hackett’s 2018 report into building standards that followed the fire.

Of course, we have been talking about these challenges for literally decades – not least the need to find and retain the right skills. But we now have a new government and a new imperative to finally turn the dial and transform the sector into a shape capable of meeting the ambitious but never-the-less vital targets set by Labour.

So let’s hear more. My guest today is Mark Farmer founder and chief executive of Cast Consultancy and a font of knowledge when it comes to accelerating constructions performance and specifically the challenges of kickstarting the nations lack-luster housebuilding performance.
Resources
Cast Consultancy
The Farmer Review - Modernise of Die
Independent Review of Building Safety - Dame Judith Hackett 2018
Government announces planning overhaul - 2024
Labour manifesto
Kings Speech background briefing