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For all the talk about the benefits and the pressures to change, the industry is still reluctant to adopt modern methods of construction (MMC). There are good reasons for this.

MMC forces early decision-making, locking clients into designs that are difficult and expensive to change later; offsite solutions often come from relatively unknown suppliers; a business failure could leave a client high and dry with a bust programme and budget.

There are concerns too about the fire and structural performance of new and untested systems; the cyclical nature of the industry combined with a desire for bespoke designs means manufacturers do not benefit from a regular pipeline of work, leaving expensive production capacity underused and pushing up costs above those of traditional construction.

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