BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

In Business

Factual: Money

Series about the world of work from vast corporations to modest volunteers

Series of programmes about the whole world of work, public and private, from vast corporations to modest volunteers

In Business: Home Truths

Home Truths

BBC Radio 4 - In Business, Home Truths

Meet the companies trying to fundamentally change how houses are built.

Is house building on the cusp of change? Manuela Saragosa meets the industry disruptors trying to ensure that's the case. Will huge numbers of new homes soon be factory produced?

Does the house building industry need to change? Manuela Saragosa meets the disruptors,  the companies trying to transform how the vast majority of residential property is built. Across the country new factories are springing up - in a bid to manufacture our homes in much the same way as we do our cars. The risks are huge. 

Significant investment is required to get things moving and demand for these new homes has yet to be tested. But the disruptors claim that the house building industry must modernise or die. Productivity is falling and traditional skills are in short supply - something that is likely to get worse as immigration reduces. Other countries, too, already build huge numbers of  homes off-site, claiming that this results in quicker and cheaper construction.  So, just how many of the hundreds of thousands of homes that we need to build might end up being factory produced? 

Producer: Rosamund Jones

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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