Making Housing Affordable – Increasing Modern Methods of Construction and Lowering Costs

Practical information

• Composition of the Study Group
• Francesco NAPOLITANO (administrator), Daniel MAKAY (assistant)
• TEN Section meeting: 4 September 2026
• EESC Plenary session: 23-24 September 2026
• Contact

Background

The Irish Presidency is interested in exploring how modern methods of construction can help reduce construction and housing costs and contribute to addressing housing shortages by boosting supply.

The construction sector remains characterised by relatively low productivity growth and fragmented supply chains. Scaling up industrialised approaches, including modular, prefabricated and off-site building, offers significant potential to reduce construction timelines, improve quality control, increase industry capacity, improve productivity and lower overall costs.

The EESC has been working on housing policy for many years, notably delivering an opinion on the European Union Strategy for Housing Construction, published by the European Commission on 16 December 2025 as part of the European Affordable Housing Plan.

This opinion is going to examine the framework conditions needed to increase the supply of repurposed, renovated, and new housing, and will provide guidance to relevant actors on the implementation of modern construction methods, taking into account civil society concerns and the priorities indicated by the Irish Presidency.

The exploratory opinion could consider how EU-level action can support industrial capacity, standardisation, skills development, digitisation and cross-border supply chains to enable Modern Methods of Construction at scale.

It may also examine regulatory alignment, access to finance, public procurement and research and collaboration frameworks that incentivise innovation. 

In the current context of acute housing pressures across Member States, an EESC contribution is expected to add value by highlighting the role of social partners and civil society in ensuring that affordability, sustainability and quality standards are advanced together.