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**Figure 7.** Conceptualized feedback loop for strategic approach for wider adoption of OSC in the HA sector.

This could lead to an OSC sector that becomes more vibrant, robust, thus increasing the resilience of the HA housing sector. In the shorter term, it will allow HAs to build more and higher quality homes that are more energy efficient—providing benefits to their residents and society as a whole.

## **5. Conclusions**

This paper has explored HAs' views on the barriers towards the adoption of OSC, how these compare with the perceptions within the wider housing sector, and whether experience in offsite construction methods affects perception towards offsite construction usage. The evidence from this research indicates cost-related barriers are perceived to be the most significant barriers to OSC use for HAs, followed by the capacity of suppliers and end-user preferences for traditional construction. The study was nevertheless limited to the larger HA developers and to HAs with experience of OSC. Consequently, it is not suitable to consider results as representative of all the views of HAs in England, as the perceptions of the sample may differ from HAs with limited experience in relation to OSC. This is an aspect that could be explored through a larger scale, representative study of HAs across England.

To explore whether experience in OSC methods affects perception towards OSC, survey results were analysed based on two subsets: participants with direct experience and those without. The results revealed some noticeable differences between the perceived barriers of the two sample populations. Further, the population with experience were seen to hold stronger opinions. Neither population held perceptions consistently in keeping with the OSC literature. The perceived barriers of those with experience were more aligned with the wider housing sector. Although based on limited sample sizes, this initial exploration indicates that experience does impact perceptions.

The paper proposes that the conceptualised feedback model is proposed to monitor, capture knowledge and share best practices as HAs commit to accelerating project delivery through strategic partnerships with offsite manufacturing firms, local authorities at a local/regional level that leverage the high-value, high-impact transformation of the housebuilding sector in tangible terms of efficiency, cost, and material savings. It is through a coordinated commitment to a unified pursuit of offsite housing throughout a given region or network of housing associations that will ultimately transition this sector from a one-off, bespoke solution approach to one that will support value-added targets of evolving projects.

**Funding:** This research was funded by the Royal Insituttion of Chartered Surveys Research Trust Project 517: Procurement and contract strategies for offsite manufacturing within UK housebuilding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Strathclyde.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflict of interest.
