Unlocking MMC housing: why digital transformation and industry standardisation are essential

The UK housing sector is in a state of crisis, with real consequences for people and their communities. A record number of families are now relying on temporary accommodation, and local authorities have seen their spending on these arrangements surge by 97% over the past five years, reaching £2.29 billion between 2023 and 2025.

Although the government elected in 2024 has pledged to deliver 1.5 million homes by the next election, it is worth noting that under the previous administration only 7,500 new social rent homes were completed in 2022, a fraction of the 90,000 needed annually to keep pace with demand.

Yet, in the face of such urgency, our sector remains stubbornly focused on physical innovation — smart homes, novel build systems, and prefabricated pods. While these offer real value, they are often treated as silver bullets, distracting us from the fundamental challenge: how do we deliver more homes, not just what types of housing we deliver?

Real change won’t come from novel tech alone. It will come from transforming our systems and workflows — in short, from process innovation. With the recently announced Affordable Homes Funding and National Housing Bank, there has never been a better time to create the sustained change needed to modernise the housing sector.

Digitisation is the key to this transformation. Done right, it offers more than just convenience; it offers consistency, reliability, and long-term change.

However, despite £2.3 billion of global construction tech investment in 2024, many UK tools remain fragmented, closed, and hard to scale. It’s time to move beyond digital bolt-ons and begin embedding digitisation as the foundation of housing delivery.

The process can be the platform

To meet the UK’s future housebuilding ambitions, we must move past isolated innovations and rethink how we work. The goal should not be replicable products in isolation — like bathroom pods or utility cupboards — but repeatable, scalable processes that make delivery more consistent and predictable.

Platform thinking provides the structure we need. Platforms aren’t just technological systems, they are shared frameworks of components, data structures, layouts, and workflows that enable consistency across a portfolio of projects. Critically, they support not only design and construction, but also procurement, governance, and assurance at scale.

By standardising how we define component performance, interfaces, and data, D-kop supports repeatable and assured delivery — giving all stakeholders a clearer, more reliable framework to work within

Used effectively, these platforms can link planning data, building design, specification, approvals, and compliance into one digitised ecosystem. This allows for data-driven decision-making, predictable delivery, and real-time assurance, key for housing providers facing cost pressures and rising risk when delivering much needed affordable homes.

True impact only comes when platforms are aligned with implementation and manufacture. Together, they form a delivery system — one that scales.

The Digital Kit of Parts: a system for shared delivery

One of the clearest examples of how digitisation can transform housing delivery is the recently completed Standardisation research and Digital Kit of Parts (D-kop) project for the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG), undertaken by a collaborative consortium comprising Akerlof, HLM Architects, Buro Happold, and Limberger Associates.

This initiative has developed an open-access kit of parts to encourage the adoption of MMC in low-rise housing, making the entire process of delivering homes smarter, more predictable, and more connected.

The D-kop is based on the development of data templates that promote the interoperability of products, including elements such as walls, roofs and floors, and ensure scalability. This innovative development of standardised data serves to bridge communication gaps between manufacturers, clients, designers, building control, insurance and assurance providers.

Through agreement on consistent guidelines for geometry, quality, certification requirements, and interface details that cater to a diverse market, the D-kop establishes commonality across the variable MMC sector. This consistency supports not just better technical delivery but also stronger collaboration across the sector.

However, D-kop is more than just a digital database of components. It acts as a governance tool, embedding clarity, assurance, and accountability into complex housing programmes. By standardising how we define component performance, interfaces, and data, D-kop supports repeatable and assured delivery — giving all stakeholders a clearer, more reliable framework to work within.

Its benefits are wide-reaching.

• For government it turns policy into practical delivery tools for the industry to use, supporting quality assurance and compliance.
• For clients and insurers it builds confidence through built-in assurance and reduced risk.
• For designers it helps them to work flexibly to known dimensions and standards, allowing for flexibility and creativity.
• It helps manufacturers get efficiency through repeatable inputs and processes, enabling investment and scaling of SMEs.
• And it means that people end up with better, more consistent homes delivered faster.

D-kop also supports the UK government’s wider ambitions for a more digital and standardised housing system. It aligns with initiatives such as the Design Code Pathfinders, the move towards a digitised planning process, and the recently introduced BS 8700 standard.

By enabling everyone to work from a shared set of rules and processes, it lays the foundation for a more collaborative, scalable, and resilient approach to housing delivery.

A connected and resilient ecosystem

To deliver quality homes at scale, the sector must embrace process innovation as the infrastructure of delivery. It’s this foundation, not individual product innovations, that will unlock consistency, confidence, and collaboration across the housing sector.

Certainty should be a natural by-product of design and process rigour, not a matter of good fortune. When we standardise processes, from briefing and compliance to manufacture and handover, we create an ecosystem where predictable quality is the norm.

Digitisation is central to this vision. Through well-structured, open data systems and platforms, the sector can embed learning loops into delivery.

Operational performance can be fed back into design, enabling continuous improvement. Artificial intelligence, applied to such datasets, can accelerate decision-making, spot inefficiencies, and predict issues before they arise.

But for this to work, the system must be open. Interoperability is essential. Too many current digital tools are closed systems, locking out the SMEs who are vital to scaling up delivery.

Inclusivity is not just a fairness issue, it’s a practical one. We need a housing system where suppliers, designers, and manufacturers of all sizes can plug in, contribute, and benefit.

We won’t meet our housing goals by doing more of the same

It’s early days, but Ireland is already demonstrating what’s possible. Its top-down, nationally coordinated model provides clear direction, consistent standards, and centralised support for MMC.

This has enabled suppliers to scale and deliver consistently. By contrast, the UK’s more fragmented approach often results in duplicated effort and innovation trapped in silos.

Importantly, process innovation supports other types of innovation too — especially in sustainability. The Structural Timber Association’s roadmap points toward wider use of low-carbon materials.

But without the right digital processes to define, specify, and assure their performance, these sustainable ambitions risk stalling. A joined-up, digitised framework is essential to turn innovation into impact.

The Design Code Pathfinder Programme and digital planning initiatives are creating a practical foundation for the D-kop by generating exemplar design codes and tested frameworks. These real-world outputs will inform and support the development of a consistent, scalable resource for designers nationwide.

A resilient housing system doesn’t just need more tech. It needs the infrastructure to connect it all, and process innovation is that infrastructure.

Designing the how, not just the what

We won’t meet our housing goals by doing more of the same. A new era of housing delivery demands more than better designs, it requires better systems for delivering them.

We must scale resilient, repeatable processes that deliver quality homes with consistency and confidence. Tools like the Digital Kit of Parts represent the future: shared frameworks that connect policy, clients, designers, manufacturers, and communities.

As we look to the future and to the upcoming budget, we hope to see stronger policy leadership and support for this shift. Cross-sector collaboration and bold government action will be essential to move from ambition to action.

The opportunity is clear: a housing sector powered by digital solutions, delivering more and better homes for people, and doing so sustainably with clarity and care.