Cast Consultancy is a London based specialist consultancy firm focused on driving change in the construction sector. Established in 2016, Cast has had the opportunity and privilege to advise national and regional government policymakers and regulators on the challenges and opportunities of modernizing infrastructure, construction, and homebuilding delivery within the UK and advising on major Canadian investments.
Cast has developed a deep understanding of the property and construction market through its international work advising developers, investors, the supply chain and policymakers. Our core strategic thinking focuses on how innovation is best measured, incentivized, and practically deployed in what is a naturally conservative industry with major institutional barriers to change. We have an approach heavily informed by how change is underwritten by funders and insurers as we know from experience that unless it is investible, lendable, and warrantable, the private sector will not adopt innovative techniques and products. This challenge requires much wider stakeholder management and evidence backed benefits case demonstration than just proving the case to the construction industry itself.
Cast has just supported the initiation phase of a collaborative Industrialized Construction (IC) research road-mapping exercise funded by National Research Council of Canada and delivered by the University of New Brunswick’s Offsite Construction Research Centre and the University of Alberta. This has allowed a fuller appreciation of the similarities and differences between UK and Canadian markets and enabling us to share wider global insights including lessons learned and potential priorities. Cast is excited to be collaborating with Canada’s government institutions, academia and industry in guiding your journey towards a more modern, sustainable construction industry.
The Case for Industrialized Construction in Canada
Canada’s construction industry stands at a turning point. It is a $151 billion sector that employs 1.6 million people and underpins 7.4 percent of the nation’s GDP. However, its challenges are growing sharper every day. Despite being one of only a few economies in the developed world (alongside Australia) which has grown its total construction workforce since Covid, there are still projected workforce and skills gaps, spanning both site trades and professional workers which could leave Canada short by 85,000 skilled workers by 2033. Project timelines are too long, costs continue to rise, and inefficiencies persist. These systemic issues mean Canada is falling short in its ability to deliver essential housing and infrastructure at the pace the country requires. There is a major productivity question mark hanging over Canadian construction, as there is with so many international construction sectors, and the inability to drive growth without continued labor intensity threatens the sustainability of the current low efficiency model.
Globally, the world is moving toward Industrialized Construction — a shift that Canada has an opportunity to leverage. In the UK, this transition is already well underway, and Cast has been at the forefront of enabling this change through the development of measurement systems that link industrialized construction approaches to tangible project outcomes.
Defining the Framework: Modern Methods of Construction (MMC)
In the UK, Cast has led the development and adoption of the Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) framework on behalf of the industry. Our language is different here but there are broad parallels between IC and MMC, especially in relation to the physical manifestations of modern construction. This framework categorizes construction approaches, ranging from pre-manufactured components to on-site process innovations, and provides a shared language for clients, contractors, and suppliers. By defining these processes and aligning them to measurable outcomes, Cast has established the confidence and clarity needed to accelerate the adoption of Industrialized Construction across the sector.
Within this framework, Pre-Manufactured Value (PMV) — a metric pioneered by Cast — has become a critical tool used by various UK government departments and by parts of industry itself, for measuring and quantifying the level of industrialization on any project. PMV measures the percentage of a construction project’s value that is created before on-site assembly. A higher PMV score signals greater use of offsite and prefabricated methods, which, as Cast’s experience has shown, translate directly into improvements in predictability, productivity, quality, and sustainability. By taking a leadership role in developing PMV on behalf of the construction industry and the UK Government, Cast has provided the industry with a consistent and objective way to evaluate the benefits of industrialized methods, driving informed decision-making across the construction lifecycle. It has also helped reduce the false impression that industrialization versus traditional approaches is a binary choice. In reality there is a spectrum of options that can be measured on a sliding scale, hence PMV.
Pre-Manufactured Value: Linking Industrialized Construction to Outcomes
While PMV provides a clear measure of IC adoption, Cast has taken this further by creating a robust measurement framework that links PMV scores to critical project outcomes. These outcomes — such as cost predictability, program certainty, waste reduction, embodied carbon, and program efficiency — are calculated and tracked throughout the lifecycle of a project, ensuring that decisions about construction methods are grounded in measurable evidence.
At Cast, we oversee the collection and analysis of this data, working closely with developers, contractors, and suppliers. PMV is more than just a percentage; it provides insight into the tangible benefits of IC. Cost predictability, for example, is calculated as the difference between the Stage 3 design cost and the final account cost, providing clients with clarity and confidence on financial certainty. Program certainty is measured by comparing planned timelines to actual delivery durations, offering an accurate assessment of schedule performance. Waste reduction is quantified by assessing the volume of waste produced per £100,000 of project spend, highlighting material efficiencies achieved through industrialized methods. Embodied carbon, a critical indicator of sustainability, is measured in kilograms of CO₂ per square meter to demonstrate environmental performance gains. Program efficiency is measured through delivery speed, expressed as days per square meter, ensuring clients have a clear understanding of time savings achieved through IC adoption.
This measurement framework did not exist before Cast created and deployed it. The industry lacked the transparency, consistency, and accountability required to fully understand and demonstrate IC’s potential. By introducing this system and sharing the insights it produces, we have enabled developers, contractors, and suppliers to make decisions that drive measurable outcomes, in order to reduce costs, improve timelines, lower carbon emissions, or enhance project quality.
There is a recurring problem with the willingness of international construction markets to share data. In the UK, the measurement of productivity has been hindered by the commercial and contract performance sensitivities from the supply chain of linking labor use to construction value as a £ / hour measure. Although PMV also has similar challenges around being a financially led metric, the percentage relativity nature of the end metric combined with anonymized data collection can help to reduce this problem if it can be collected and curated at scale by a trusted source.
Delivering Real Results: Brent Cross Town and Portlands Place
Our approach is not purely theoretical but rather also based on delivering real project results and improving live construction projects.
At Brent Cross Town, a 73-hectare mixed-use development in North West London, Cast acted as cost consultant and project manager, implementing our measurement framework to provide clarity on outcomes. By combining prefabricated structural frames and facades with on-site processes, the project achieved a fourteen-week program saving. Cost movement was limited to 3.23 percent, far outperforming the typical 11 to 12 percent seen in traditionally built projects. The project also achieved substantial reductions in waste and vehicle movements, demonstrating the environmental and logistical benefits of IC.
Similarly, at Portlands Place, a 524-unit build-to-rent scheme in East London, Cast facilitated early contractor engagement and optimized the pre-manufactured strategy. This approach delivered a three-month program saving, a 15 percent reduction in embodied energy, and a 75 percent reduction in waste compared to conventional methods.
In both projects, Cast’s measurement system enabled the developer, contractor, and supplier teams to see clearly how decisions about construction methods drove tangible benefits. This clarity, grounded in data, was key to delivering better outcomes for all stakeholders.
Canada’s Progress: A Foundation for Future Growth
Canada is already taking steps to integrate industrialized construction into its housing and infrastructure delivery. The National Housing Strategy, a $115 billion program, aims to create 150,000 new housing units while protecting 350,000 community housing units. The Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF), a $4 billion federal initiative, enables modular housing production year-round — an essential advantage in a country where harsh winters can halt traditional construction activity for nearly half the year.
Early results underscore the potential of these efforts. In British Columbia, the Affordable Housing Innovation Fund, a $551 million initiative to transform affordable housing delivery, produced 750 modular units across multiple sites, providing rapid and cost-effective solutions far faster than conventional methods. Meanwhile, Infrastructure Ontario has demonstrated the power of technology-driven approaches, using digital twins on the Eglinton Crosstown Extension to achieve a 20 percent reduction in energy consumption and enhanced cost management.
These examples show Canada’s ability to innovate, but scaling these successes will require broader adoption of IC methods and clearer, more consistent measurement of outcomes. There is also a need for an aggregated approach which respects the individualities of different provincial construction markets (including preferred construction materials and methods) but also allows for a nationwide framework to be established that can sit over province specific policies and measures.
Conclusion: Realizing Canada’s Opportunity with Industrialized Construction
The world is slowly but surely moving toward Industrialized Construction, and the results are clear. This is not a ‘big bang’ but synonymous with our measure of PMV, it is a gradual and incremental journey of doing more in controlled, factory based environments relative to what is done at the final workface. In the UK, Cast has shown how IC delivers faster timelines, improved cost certainty, reduced waste, and greater sustainability on real projects like Brent Cross Town and Portlands Place. These benefits were not theoretical — they were measured, verified, and shared transparently with all project stakeholders through Cast’s PMV-based measurement system.
Canada is already making progress, but the opportunity exists to go further. By adopting proven measurement frameworks like PMV, Canada can create the clarity and confidence needed to accelerate IC adoption and unlock its full potential. With a focus on data-driven decision-making, workforce development, and regulatory alignment, Canada can build a modern, efficient, and resilient construction sector ready and able to meet the demands of its economy and society.
