Offsite market set to grow 10% each year

The market for offsite construction has grown from £800m to £879m in the past 12 months, according to new research from the Building Services Research and Information Association. And it predicts that this rate of growth - almost 10% - will continue year-on-year until 2010.

The study involved interviews with over 150 users or potential users of offsite systems, including clients, contractors and architects. The majority of respondents said they were already using or would continue to use such systems.

Over 90% of those interviewed agreed that using offsite construction provided benefits such as reduced building programme times and improved building quality. However, they also felt there were a number of barriers preventing its wider adoption, including a lack of suppliers, higher costs, and a lack of in-house expertise.

In most cases, the decision to use offsite construction is taken at a very early stage of a project. This was particularly the case for construction clients.

New build projects were overwhelmingly favoured for use of offsite systems, with just 25% using them for refurbishment work.

A regional bias in favour of London and the South East was detected, the reasons cited included skills shortages and higher hourly rates.