I resisted the temptation to have a really good apoplectic rant at a conference last night. Two construction industry apologists were suggesting that the nation, and the construction industry in particular, couldn’t afford to address sustainability in the current economic climate.
What a load of tosh.
The solution from one is that government pumps more cash into traditional construction to save existing jobs and presumably maintain the status quo.
Let’s go for a 1980’s Soviet economy shall we?
I have often been criticised by some in construction for drawing analogies with other industries when ‘construction is different’. I agree there are differences, but construction is not such a special case that market economics no-longer apply.
I can’t think of any product or service (not constrained by scarcity of resource or brand restricted supply) which has shown such a resolute determination not to offer better value for money than housing.
Our ‘real terms’ buying power for food, clothing, electronics, consumer goods and cars has grown so much that for many, all but a car, can be bought out of ‘petty cash’. At the same time the range of price points we are willing to pay has grown:
* Sainsbury basics – Tesco finest – Artisan producers
* Primark – Calvin Klein – Stella McCartney
* SanDisk – Apple – Bang&Olufsen
* Tata Nano – VW Golf – Bugatti Veyron
There is a real need and market for the ‘value’ ranges, but in housing the lowest common denominator dominates the offering. Only the elite get a chance to build their Grand Designs, and the rest of us in the mid-market are left to hark back to yesteryear with older properties.
We need to be more demanding of the sector: I want a ‘huf haus’ (http://www.designer-homes.co.uk/huf-haus) style, to zero carbon standard for £60k + land cost.
huf-haus
‘Can’t be done’ the industry cries ‘If you want more you pay more’ and with that logic we’d still be driving around in Morris Oxfords because all the innovations of the last 50 years would have been cost prohibitive.
Total Flow have spent 2 years learning about the world of construction and housebuilding. We know there is a reluctance to be a true innovator in the industry because it’s the second mouse to the trap that gets the cheese.
Even so, when housebuilding is on its knees, you’d think there would be at least one Maverick looking to break away from the pack and put together a design-supply-build-market model which could make them construction’s equivalent of Dyson or Google.
If you know who the housebuilding mavericks are; do introduce us. We’d like to buy them a coffee, sit down and plan their future domination of the market.
Tags: Construction