New Report Warns Government: Idle MMC Factories Are a “Demand‑Side Failure” Blocking UK Housing Delivery

A new industry report has issued a clear warning to government: the UK cannot meet its housing and infrastructure needs while modern methods of construction (MMC) factories continue to sit idle due to slow planning, complex procurement and volatile pipelines.

The Downtime Workshop & Miro Synthesis report, produced by Buildoffsite, brings together evidence from a sector-wide workshop and pre‑survey data to answer a single question: what must change to stop UK MMC factories standing idle at the very moment the country needs faster, greener delivery?

The findings are stark. According to the report, downtime is “a systemic, demand‑side problem”, not a failure of factory capability. Manufacturers report 10–25% under‑utilisation, driven by planning delays, inconsistent procurement routes and lumpy public‑sector pipelines. Participants described a persistent “confidence gap” among planners and procurers, who often lack the tools to assess MMC systems fairly.

The report also reveals strong industry appetite for a shared‑capacity model, where projects can be matched to spare factory slots—provided government helps establish clear standards, QA rules, insurance alignment and commercial guardrails. As one workshop theme put it, the “speed of money must match the speed of MMC”, highlighting how long public‑sector payment cycles destabilise factory operations.

To break the cycle of downtime, the report sets out three urgent policy interventions:

1. Stabilise MMC demand through a national evidence pack, fast‑track routes for trusted suppliers, and funded MMC advisors to support planning and procurement teams.
2. Co‑fund a national shared‑capacity pilot, using an existing platform to match real projects to idle factory capacity within 6–9 months.
3. Introduce a ‘Downtime to Delivery’ support package, including grants for collaborative factory projects, enhanced capital allowances for downtime‑reducing investments, and low‑interest finance to manage cashflow gaps caused by public‑sector delays.

The report argues that these measures would convert idle capacity into real homes and public assets, protect jobs, and ensure taxpayers’ investment in MMC is fully utilised. It concludes with a direct message to government: the sector is ready to move, but cannot fix demand‑side failures alone.

As the report states, “We can build more, faster and greener using factories that already exist — but only if government helps fix demand‑side failures and test shared capacity at scale.”

Read the full report here: DOWNTIME WORKSHOP MIRO SYNTHESIS SHARED CAPACITY AND GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION