Leading offsite timber frame manufacturer, Donaldson Timber Systems, has welcomed Charlie Maynard MP to its Witney manufacturing facility to discuss the role of offsite timber frame construction in meeting housebuilding targets.
The visit came following Donaldson Timber Systems’ investment of more than £10m at its Oxfordshire facility, which has increased offsite automation to scale up production and help deliver more high-quality, energy-efficient homes across the UK.
During the visit, Mr Maynard was given a tour of the site, which includes the most advanced automated pre-insulated closed panel wall production line in Europe. The visit provided an opportunity for Mr Maynard to see how Donaldson Timber Systems currently supports the delivery of private and affordable housing across the country, while demonstrating how the industry can help deliver 1.5 million new homes to meet Government targets.
Discussions included why offsite timber frame is the future of housebuilding in the UK and how Government can utilise these resources to build more houses of better quality and to higher standards of energy efficiency and sustainability.
They also covered how the offsite timber frame provides a solution to the well-documented skills and labour shortages.
Commenting on the offsite automation, Charlie Maynard MP said: “It’s interesting and there’s lots of ingenuity and lots determination here to say: ‘how can we do things better?’ We need more homes, and this is helping to do that.”
Donaldson Offsite CEO, Alex Goodfellow said: “We were pleased to welcome Mr Maynard to our Witney site, and to have the opportunity to showcase the fantastic facilities and team we have here at Donaldson Timber Systems. We’re a family business with a long heritage, celebrating 50 years in business this year, while our parent company spans back to 1860.
“We have long championed the use of offsite timber frame construction as the best way to achieve efficiencies and sustainable building practices – and with the labour shortages in the UK, it’s the only way to achieve building 300,000 homes per year.”
