The Observer newspaper ran an article recently (Sunday March 23rd) citing a report written by Wood Holmes Group on the “Long Term Prospects for the UK New Housing Market” read the full article here
The report was written for the Construction Products Association (CPA) as part of a strategic futures and foresight project taking a comprehensive look at the UK new housing market until 2017.
The study employed a range of foresight techniques including scenario planning to identify and explore the potential future of key drivers in the UK new housing market over the next 10 years. In addition, extensive consultations were undertaken with experts from all aspects of the housing spectrum.
Four 2017 scenarios were developed as part of the project:
# 1. ‘More of the Same’
# 2. ‘Meeting the Eco-Challenge’
# 3. ‘The Rise of Offsite’
# 4. ‘Planning Constraint’
Through the application of scenario planning, a range of political, economic, technological, environmental, and social issues could be integrated in a manner that delivers a deep insight into a complex and uncertain future.
The result presents a real strategic resource, applicable to all stakeholders in UK Housing across the public and private sector – serving strategic planning, informed by the complex and uncertain interplay between historic patterns and evolving drivers in a manner that reaches beyond traditional numeric forecasting.
