The Masterplan leaflet produced by the Traditional Housing Bureau (THB) contains a ‘frame construction warning’ from the director of the National Association of New Home Owners (NANHO), Chris Lorentzen.
He claims the government and the housebuilding industry are attempting to solve the skills and housing shortage by promoting factory-built homes and mounting pressure to build more quickly is leading developers to invest in framed systems.
However, he says, timber or steel frame houses, like those made from brick and block, still have to be constructed, inspected and erected, whether in a factory or on site, by a workforce likely to consist of people with little or no training.
And he adds that framed systems need to be constructed precisely from high quality materials if optimum performance is to be ensured.
Dr Paul Newman head of timber technology at TRADA Technology, said: ‘It is disappointing that the THB has found it necessary to indulge in this sort of rather scurrilous mud slinging activity.
‘It would be much better to let consumers and housebuilders make their own minds up. There is plenty of good information available from both the brick and block and the timber frame sectors,’ he said.
