Northumberland College and ORCA LGS Solutions Partner to Support Offsite Construction

Northumberland College has created and launched a training partnership with ORCA LGS Solutions. ORCA is a design, manufacturing and training company that uses innovation and a range of modern construction methods to support the government as well as increase the housing supply across the region as well as across the UK.

A White Paper was published by the Department for Communities and Local Government in February which illustrates the government plans to improve the housing market through the increase in the supply of new homes in England. The plan that has been laid out includes the target to build a million new homes by 2021.

The Construction Leadership Council has commissioned the Farmer Report in order to explore and highlight any actions that could be taken to cut back the vulnerability felt by the housing industry in term of skills shortages. The Farmer Report showed that the government target of a million new homes cannot be achieved by the industry unless the output is significantly increased.

However, as part of the government plan to increase the amount of houses available on the market, ORCA has set an aim to deliver 10,000 units of affordable housing over the course of five years. The company intends to focus on the use of off-site mobile manufacturing, which is a process that will employ and train more local people for labour as well as make the most of Light Gauge Steel which will mean that construction projects are delivered at a 50% increased speed.

Northumberland College has ORCA have formed a partnership in order to offer support to the UK government mandate which will lead to the house building sector left less vulnerable to skills shortages by increasing the use of offsite construction methods. With housing construction, it is thought that 85% of houses employ traditional construction methods of masonry and timber while offsite manufacturing accounts for 15% of the market. The offsite construction industry is getting more and more popular and does also have a massive potential for growth in the future.