Technology

"Could" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there.

Many parts of the world are experiencing a housing crisis, with demand in urban areas often outpacing supply, leading to soaring prices.

In countries including the UK and the US, an aging population of builders combined with a drive to fill the housing shortage means there is a need for more construction workers. The UK’s Construction Industry Training Board found that the country will need 250,000 more workers by 2028 to meet building targets but in 2023, more people left the industry than joined.

UK technology company Automated Architecture, or AUAR (pronounced “our”) believes it has a solution. It makes portable micro-factories that can produce the wooden framing of a house — the walls, floors and roofs. Co-founder Mollie Claypool says the micro-factories will be able to produce the panels quicker, cheaper and more precisely than a timber framing crew, freeing up carpenters to focus on the construction of the building.

Despite the focus on automation, Claypool insists she is not trying to put anyone out of work. “Automation isn’t replacing jobs. Automation is filling the gap,” she told CNN.