MMC vs. Industrialised Construction – What’s in a Name?
The construction industry has long embraced the term Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) as a way of highlighting innovation – from modular builds to panelised systems and other offsite approaches. While useful, the term MMC can often feel like an “add-on” to traditional methods, rather than a fundamental shift in how we design, procure, and deliver buildings.
Increasingly, the sector is beginning to talk about Industrialised Construction. This terminology points to something deeper and more transformative. Industrialised Construction is not about the novelty of “modern” approaches, but about embedding manufacturing principles into the heart of construction. It’s about systemisation, repeatability, and data-driven processes that improve productivity, reduce risk, and enable genuine scalability.
For offsite solution providers like Intrastack, this distinction is critical. Our role is not simply to provide an alternative construction method, but to help reframe the conversation around what a more resilient, efficient, and sustainable industry could look like.
However, several challenges remain:
- Fragmented supply chains continue to hinder the integration required for industrialised delivery.
- Perceptions and adoption barriers mean that offsite is still sometimes viewed as niche, despite clear evidence of faster and safer outcomes.
- Policy and standardisation gaps force providers to repeatedly validate systems, slowing progress at a time when scale is essential.
- Digitisation and system integration are still maturing, with many opportunities to streamline design-to-delivery through connected digital tools.
By shifting the language from MMC to Industrialised Construction, we can signal that this is not simply about “trying something new” but about fundamentally reshaping how we build.
It’s more than a name, it’s a mindset change, and one that could unlock the productivity and sustainability gains our industry has been striving for.
