The total requirement for affordable new housing in the world is extremely large

and in many countries presents major challenges to local building industries which-if they continue to use traditional building methods-will be unable to supply what is needed in terms of quantity

quality

performance or cost. In Europe

since the end of the Second World War

there have been numerous attempts to mass produce housing-mainly in order to build faster

overcome skills shortages and cut costs. The majority of those methods were based on the use of concrete and

for a variety of reasons

in the UK many of them performed badly [almost half the concrete tower blocks built in Britain the 1960s and 70s have already been demolished or are scheduled for demolition]. In the mid 1970's the Greater London Council [GLC]-already disenchanted by their experience of precast concrete building methods-experimented with volumetric/modular steel housing

and built a demonstration block of modular flats in the Borough of Hackney. The results were highly encouraging

but the programme was terminated when the GLC was closed down. However

that modular housing work attracted the attention of several large hotel chains that then used modular building techniques to construct several hundred budget price hotels in the UK. Today attitudes towards modular building methods have changed considerably

particularly among major developers. Most new hotels now incorporate pod bathrooms and large numbers of university students are being accommodated in new modular halls of residence. New material combinations and module production techniques have further increased the many advantages offered by modular construction

particularly in terms of higher acoustic performance and lower cost. The success of recent high profile modular housing projects in the UK and other EC countries bodes well for modular housing in Europe

and the PATH advanced housing technology initiative in the USA suggests modular is also poised to take off there in a big way. Modular housing could soon become a major international industry.