MHCLG is developing an open-access pattern book of standard house frames for use by Local Authorities and their delivery partners to support Local Authority-led housing delivery. The work, delivered by Populo Living and a project team led by Hawkins Brown and Cast, is intended to reduce unnecessary complexity of housebuilding, accelerating delivery and improving project certainty. This will support better value for money and create high-quality homes that can be delivered efficiently through a variety of construction methods.
MHCLG believe these have the potential to increase productivity in the house building sector, help encourage the adoption of modern construction approaches, and support SME house builders to grow. Whilst the Pattern Book will not mandate the use of MMC, an increased use of standard designs will create a pipeline of potential demand for manufacturers and also reduce barriers to entry for SMEs, Local Authorities and Registered Providers delivering housing on their own sites. The standard house frames will focus on internal layouts and structural features of the homes, retaining flexibility for Local Authorities to adapt the external facades to reflect local architectural styles.
The project is supported by a working group of Local Authorities, to ensure it addresses the needs of Local Authorities across the country. We are also seeking input from across the housebuilding sector, to ensure the Standard House Frames are deliverable by industry and support industry growth to meet the demand for high quality, safe homes.
MCHLG are aware many organisations already use their own standard house types, pattern books, design platforms or specifications. They are keen to learn from that experience and understand what would make a future pattern book genuinely useful, viable and widely used by the market.
They would like you to share your views on the project by completing this survey by 09 October 2026:
If you have any queries about the project or would like to find out more about it, please contact PatternBooks@Communities.gov.uk and patternbook@cast-consultancy.com.
At this point MMCEngineer woudl like to highlight that we have long been pushing for standardised LGS profiles and are pushing this at various levels with BSi and various others. Watch this space for more in teh coming months.
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