First it was motorbikes, then it was cars, after that consumer electronics – now it’s houses: Japanese production techniques are increasingly being touted as part of the solution to the UK‘s housing needs.

Japan massively outstrips this country’s rate of housing delivery, even taking into account its larger population of 127 million. Official statistics show well over 900,000 starts in 2016, whereas in the 12 months to December 2016, there were 154,280 starts in England, according to UK government figures. 

Earthquake-prone Japan takes a far shorter-term view of its housing stock – apart from shrines, temples and the occasional historic inn or traditional farmhouse, there’s a distinct lack of old buildings. Detached family homes are routinely demolished and replaced after as little as three decades on the same principle, if not the timescale, as an ageing car might be upgraded. 

“Go to someone like Sekisui and […] they’re able to deliver one unit in 0.3 of a man-year”

Mark Farmer, Cast

So, could taking some tips from Japanese housing culture help to deliver Theresa May’s aspirational figure of 300,000 new homes a year in England by the mid-2020s? And could the housing sector get its head around such a different way of treating the residential sector? 

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