黑洞社区

A former culture minister has slammed UK housebuilders for developing what he labelled 鈥渂land, anonymous and low quality鈥� units and urged companies to embrace off-site technology to build more innovative homes across the country.

As the housebuilding sector grapples with the challenge of meeting ambitious government targets 鈥� 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s 鈥� Tory MP Ed Vaizey said it was 鈥渂izarre鈥� that developers wouldn鈥檛 embrace pre-fabrication 鈥渨hen it could allow them to build better, more cheaply and to a higher standard. I think the public are open to it.鈥�

Vaizey (pictured), who was culture minister during the Cameron government but sacked by Theresa May in the summer of 2016, was critical of what he called the 鈥渄eeply conservative鈥� housebuilding industry for failing to embrace off-site construction techniques and other new technologies, calling for disruptors to enter the market to shake up the sector.

鈥淲e could be so much more advanced than we are in innovation in housebuilding,鈥� he said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 very odd. In any other walk of life, like fashion, people are attracted by brands. But housebuilders have been very bad at saying 鈥楲ive in a Terry Farrell or a Thomas Heatherwick house鈥�.鈥�

Vaizey said he had witnessed 鈥渢housands of houses鈥� being built in his Wantage constituency in Oxfordshire and claimed many of them were 鈥渧ery poor quality鈥�.

鈥淭he blandness and anonymity of a lot of modern housing is the reason a lot of people object,鈥� said Vaizey. 鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing exciting about a new housing development being built near you. It鈥檚 just a big fat pain in the arse.鈥�

Last year, veteran developer Sir Stuart Lipton also laid into housebuilders as he announced plans to get into the sector. 鈥淭here is no competition [in housing],鈥� he told 黑洞社区. 鈥淲hy is housing different to my phone or computer? With every product the cost has diminished and the product is far superior.鈥�