Advanced MMC Prototyping – Modular Roof Installation
AIMCH is transforming how we build homes. The project's ambition is to scale up and deliver modern methods of construction (MMC), using panelised offsite building systems that are cost neutral, high quality, faster, safer, robust and more productive than masonry construction methods.
Two of the project partners, L&Q and Stewart Milne Group, together with a third-party company called Moduloft, have collaborated to install a modular roof at L&Q's Saxon Reach site in Milton Keynes.
The chosen plot for the installation was plot 63, a three-bedroom detached house covering 95 m2.
Stewart Milne Group built the structure of the plot up to the head-binder, and Moduloft supplied the modular roof and installation.
Conclusion
To erect the ground and first floor timber frame in advance took approximately 120 man hours. Installing the pre-fab roof took a further 35 man hours. This allowed the bricklayers to start work the following day. Using this method going forward would speed up the process of having a building watertight. This system would also help to make apartments watertight in days rather than weeks once the frame was erected.
Due to Covid 19, new safety restrictions have been added to construction sites in an industry already struggling with a housing crisis. MMC build systems can help solve this crisis by speeding up the process and having less labour on site.
L&Q, Stewart Milne Group and Barratt Developments PLC are the three lead partners for AIMCH. L&Q is currently trialing nine different MMC build systems in Milton Keynes.
