The Boulder Valley School District in Boulder, Colorado, wants to build a modular home factory to be used as a training center for students to learn about offsite construction and as a way to ease the lack of affordable housing.
The factory, which has come about from a partnership between BVSD, the City of Boulder and Flatirons Habitat for Humanity, will be tasked with constructing 73 new homes for the residents of the Ponderosa Mobile Home Park.
If this works like the partnership envision, look for more school districts and local agencies to emulate its success
According to an editorial in the Boulder Daily Camera,
The city said, “The new modular homes produced through this partnership would be healthy, allow residents to build wealth, are energy efficient (i.e., net zero), and will be permanently affordable to extremely low-, low-, moderate- and middle-income households.”
The modular home factory is altogether another step. Not only would it provide new homes for the park, but after the 73 units were completed the factory would continue producing affordable modular units for our community. It is a long-term investment in Boulder’s future.
This partnership realizes that modular is the way to go for both their students and the community. After the first 73 homes are completed, the school’s modular factory will continue building homes for affordable housing in the city.
As I read this editorial about the project, I didn’t notice any reference to bringing in experienced modular factory consultants or partnering with one of the modular factories in the state.
Does this mean the partnership will begin this project without even a basic understanding of what could go wrong?
Maybe I’m seeing a dark cloud brewing but honestly, what could go wrong when the team picked to get this factory off the ground is composed of school board members, city planning and safety officials and neighborhood volunteers from Habitat for Humanity?
They have passed the first hurdle, the dreaded Environmental Impact Study confirming this project does not harm the nearby Sombrero Marsh open space. Next up are the neighbors’ anxieties over noise and traffic. The development team feels the site selected will work well but it should not be built at the expense of our neighbors.
The editorial goes on the say “In the end, no location for a factory is ever going to be perfect. There will always be impacts — to the community and the environment, to traffic and noise. But the benefits of the proposed modular home factory and the partnership between BVSD, the city and Habitat for Humanity seem to far outweigh the concerns. Boulder needs more affordable housing and our students need educational opportunities to meet the demands of the modern world. This is an innovative opportunity to continue advancing our community into the future.”
Now all that’s left to do is plan the building envelope to allow the factory, locate the parking, shipping and storage areas, design the production line automation and robotics (we certainly don’t want those students trained to do repetitive jobs when robots are available), hire a knowledgeable GM, etc…
I am so glad to see a school district getting involved in helping build a modular factory and using it to train students and help ease the affordable housing crisis in Boulder.
Let’s just hope they don’t try to either “go it alone” or hire a good consultant that members of the project team “second guess” at every turn.
CLICK HERE to read the entire Boulder Daily Camera editorial
Gary Fleisher is the Editor in Chief of Modular Home Source and Offsite Builder. Email at [email protected]
Gary Fleisher, Editor in Chief of Offsite Construction Magazine
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