Contemporary Change and the Housebuilding Industry: Concentration and Standardisation in Production

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Abstract
This paper examines the process of change and concentration within the private-sector housebuilding industry over the past 15 years, and assesses the implications for the production of new housing in terms of standard house types. Changes in the housebuilding industry are analysed utilising secondary data, based upon annual dwelling completions, focusing upon firms producing in excess of 1000 dwelling units per annum. Problems associated both with the adequate classification of firms and of constructing typologies are commented upon. It is concluded that the process of concentration observed in the 1970s has continued at an accelerating pace, and that the housebuilding industry is now dominated by large firms which have a predominantly specialised character to an extent not hitherto observed in post-war Britain. The implications for one aspect of standardisationin production-the utilisation of standard house types-are assessed by means of a national questionnaire of housebuilding firms. Analysis based upon large housebuilding firms confirms a more extensive use of standard house types than hitherto, with consumer flexibility restricted to internal non-structural features rather than external aspects of the dwelling. Provisional reasons for the expansion of standard house types are adduced, and related to the changing structure of the housebuilding industry.

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