What if we could rapidly assemble healthy and affordable homes that people actually want to live in, with no risk of damp or mould? It's time Scotland built better homes that provide warmth, protect health and offer true affordability. Using Scottish timber and natural materials, we assembled this prototype home to pre-fit out stage in just 7 days... Here's a brief intro into how (and why) we did it!
Video of MAKAR’s 7 day assembly
MAKAR has set out to prove there is a better way to build affordable homes, one that keeps heating costs low, removes the risk of damp and mold, and uses homegrown Scottish timber.
Traditional new build construction times in the UK are around 7 – 10 months. Using Modern Methods of Construction. In a time of acute housing crisis, this off-site precision-manufacturing approach offers rapid deployment of affordable homes across the UK, including the Highlands and Islands, while ensuring safer and more predictable working conditions, considerably less waste, and lower build costs.
By 10am on Monday 17th November, just two hours after Stoddart’s crane lifted the first panel, all the precision-manufactured wall panels were slotted seamlessly together. By Tuesday afternoon, the attic and roof panels were in position, the crane had left the site, and the external structure was being complete while the internal walls and floors, were being structurally screwed off. By the end of week one, the team had fully assembled the home to pre-fit out stage (Wind and Watertight), including roof coverings, windows and doors installed and solar PVs on the roof.
We need to eradicate the issues of damp, high heating costs, and fuel poverty as conventional new builds continue to fail us. What if we could build healthy and affordable homes that people actually want to live in? It is time Scotland built better homes that provide warmth, protect health and offer true affordability, all in one product. That sounds quite simple, but it takes decades of experience and determination to break through the business-as-usual approaches currently adopted.
MAKAR CEO, Neil Edgar
This prototype home will be used to showcase the future of social housing in Scotland, with ‘breathing walls’ that prevent the risk of damp or mold. The home is built from natural materials and is designed to tackle fuel poverty with low heating costs modelled at £5 – 7 a week.
The affordable homes will also support rural jobs and local supply chains in forestry, timber processing and construction. 27 key suppliers supported this project to help highlight the need for better affordable homes.
An external organisation will collect data on this prototype over 15 months, to verify energy usage and confirm the costs to keep the home heated through two winters.
It is a huge opportunity. I’ve seen inside the workshop and the feedback from people living in these homes. It’s incredible. If we are going to solve the housing crisis, we need local solutions. When you think about how often houses are built with materials that have come from so far and cost so much in carbon, here we are with a building that stores carbon and hasn’t needed much transport to get the timber here at all. I can tell the companies involved are so excited to be part of this.
Emma Roddick MSP, on visiting MAKAR's prototype during assembly.
The assembly phase for off-site constructed homes like MAKAR’s prototype is far simpler and quicker, with very predictable workflows, meaning far less time, complexity and risk on site. A lot of the traditional risk elements we look out for are de-risked, such as large amounts of working at height, manual handling and injuries from slips, trips, and falls. For the guys on site, this means it is inherently safer than traditional construction.
Graeme Clark, Ethos Safety
I’ve known MAKAR for a while and how they build their houses. I had no idea that you could be up to roof height in 7 or 8 hours. It’s incredible. It’s immaculate here; there’s no waste. It’s not a typical building site by any means. Everything is really tidy and well organised, and that’s got to affect the end product.
Alex Laing, Logie Estate and Logie Timber