The FHC is a panel of experts set up by the Royal Institute of British Architects to look at UK housing needs and new homes quality. In its report Building the Homes and Communities Britain Needs, it recommends the creation of a £10bn Local Housing Development Fund, paid for by local authority pension funds, to kick-start a new construction programme.
The report also urges a greater focus on home design, to make them more attractive to residents and investors, and giving local authorities a "lead role to create sustainable communites".
Timber Trade Federation (TTF) chief executive John White welcomed the FHC’s recommendations and said the timber sector could provide products and solutions to help them happen.
"A boost to the housing market would boost the economy and there are signs that a number of firms are working with local authorities and pension funds to make this happen," he said. "We are engaging with these audiences to highlight the positive role and benefit that timber constuction can bring to modern housing."
UK Timber Frame Association chief executive Andrew Carpenter also supported "any move to increase building of new homes".
However, he added that building 300,000 a year was a "big ask".
"From where we are this year, building 130,000, getting to 300,000 won’t happen overnight," he said. "The consruction industry in the last five years has become so lean and lost so many people and skills, there are serious question marks over whether we have the capacity. Although, having said that, the timber frame sector would be better placed than masonry to gear up output."
He also cautioned against any "watering down of the sustainable construction agenda" to up housing volumes.
"We mustn’t use the pretext of the economic situation to abandon sustainbility goals and a fabric first approach, which timber frame has shown, in any event, can be achieved cost effectively," he said.
