The Off-Site Homes Alliance (OSHA), an alliance of 23 Housing Associations, is launching a national construction framework for volumetric (CAT 1) and panelised (CAT 2) Modern Methods of Construction (MMC). This will support Housing Associations and Local Authorities to deliver off-site homes, with the objective of developing 10,000 homes per year by upgrading to MMC technology.
The OSHA framework will be administrated by Great Places Housing Group on behalf of OSHA and is seeking bids from volumetric and panelised manufacturers interested in supplying homes initially to its 23 members and to future new members of the alliance.
The OSHA framework will provide ongoing expert support to clients through a focused MMC Project Management Office (PMO). This will drive continuous improvement and supply chain partnerships, as well as assist framework clients to navigate and de-risk this largely new world. The PMO service will be the subject of a separate but concurrent procurement exercise.
The framework and PMO will be supported by the use of OSHA’s own design pattern book, zero carbon specification and Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) process tools. All of these have been developed by the Alliance over the past 18 months in readiness for procuring this framework.
This national framework is valued at £2 billion over four years, aggregating demand from OSHA’s existing 23 partners looking to deliver modular homes as part of their development programmes through this framework.
The framework is open to any manufacturer wanting to supply Cat 1 (volumetric) and / or CAT 2 (panelised) solutions to Registered Social Housing Providers or Local Authorities. Once accepted onto the framework, suppliers can be called on by OSHA clients for the four year period (2022-6).
The framework will enable OSHA’s existing and future new members to access MMC suppliers for the provision of new homes in a compliant way, having been procured under the Public Contract Regulations 2015. Clients will select suppliers from the available lots via Direct Award or mini competition. The whole process will be managed electronically via an e-tendering portal.
Commenting on the launch of the framework, Matthew Harrison, Chief Executive at Great Places, said: “We’re delighted to see the launch of the OSHA framework, which has been scoped following extensive feedback from our Alliance partners and existing suppliers. Great Places alone has an ambition to deliver 9,000 new homes by 2028, and the OSHA framework will ensure that a significant proportion of these new homes are built off-site, driving better quality, value for money and decarbonisation through partnerships and aggregation of volume. We look forward to hearing from potential framework suppliers and manufacturing partners who want to work with us to realise our development ambitions of delivering much-needed affordable homes.”
Nick Atkin, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Housing, added: “The launch of the OSHA framework is a significant milestone for the Alliance as we look to build long-term partnerships with the MMC supply chain. This will enable us to develop a joined up development process from factory gate to end of defects, harnessing the benefits of factory construction methods to realise members’ development aspirations.”
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