whg Joins Construction Group to Help Ramp up West Midlands Housing Supply

• 4th June 2020

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Leading Midland’s landlord whg has joined a new advisory group set up to support the delivery of much needed, high-quality housing at pace and scale.

The Advanced Manufacture in Construction (AMC) advisory group has been formed by The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to help the West Midlands bounce back more quickly from the coronavirus pandemic.

Led by Mark Farmer, the Government’s champion for modern methods of construction in homebuilding, the expert group consists of industry specialists from whg, Homes England, Mace, Lendlease, the University of Wolverhampton, CITB, Accord, Construction Innovation Hub, UK Finance and West Midlands Combined Universities.

Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street said: “The formation of an AMC advisory group gives us the opportunity to capitalise on the rich heritage of manufacturing and innovation in the West Midlands.

“The new approach to construction in the West Midlands will help deliver a more inclusive economy, providing high quality, sustainable and affordable homes, as well as more secure jobs.

“The use of AMC can help us to build back better as we recover from the current crisis and also help us construct the 215,000 new homes we need by 2031 to meet future demand.”

Rebecca Bennett Casserly, whg’s Corporate Director of Development, said: “We’re delighted to join the advisory group and share the learnings from our own research and development from the past 18 months which has been carried out in partnership with Hadley Group, West Midlands Combined Universities, Birmingham City University, QM Systems, Energy Systems Catapult and Northmill Associates with the support of an Innovate UK grant.”

Mark Farmer, chair of the AMC advisory panel, said: “The WMCA will be prioritising not only AMC but true forms of digitally-led advanced manufacture.

“It is clear that as the country emerges from the Covid-19 crisis more resilient models of construction and supply chain management will be more important than ever, and through this project the WMCA will be very well-placed to move quickly and drive that change.”

The adoption of AMC across the region extends into the WMCA’s Covid-19 recovery plan, as factory manufacturing makes it easier to enable social distancing.