One of the leading exponents of modular housebuilding based on cross-laminated timber technology is to move to using steel-framed systems for its planned apartment buildings.

London and South-east housing association Swan, which set up a 400-homes-a-year modular housebuilding factory in 2017 to deliver its 3,500-home development pipeline, told Housing Today the decision to switch to steel followed the government’s ban on combustible materials in the external walls of homes more than 18m in height.