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Civic Common’s Network Weaver Marty Kooistra recently participated in a week of intensive first-hand learning about industrialized housing with 22 delegates from Ireland, Sweden, the UK, and the US. The conference, which blended tours of several leading-edge factories and project sites in Scotland with BE-ST Fest '25 Summit panels and workshops, was convened by MOD X, a global leader in industrialized housing, in partnership with Built Environment - Smarter Transformation (BE-ST), Scotland's national innovation center for construction and the built environment. The conference was perfectly timed with Civic Commons’ recent rollout of its Comprehensive and Scalable Starter Home Production Plan for Washington State (“the Production Plan”). The Production Plan was developed by an interdisciplinary and multi-sector project team convened by Civic Commons in response to a call from state legislators for an actionable plan capable of significantly increasing statewide production of for-sale starter homes affordable to households with low and moderate incomes. The Production Plan and its two accompanying Playbooks, which emerged from work already underway among partners in the Black Home Initiative (BHI) regional impact network (also convened by Civic Commons), are a roadmap for scaled home production in which off-site construction methods are key element of success. Delegates collectively explored the latest in Scottish industrialized housing delivery through the lens of high-performance timber construction and “Missing Middle” housing types. The preponderance of residential construction in Scotland is done with off-site methods, an inverse of where we are in the US, including WA state. Stated Marty - “It was really affirming to hear from thought and practice leaders working in several European countries. We’re all facing similar impediments to achieving scale. But these deep conversations with other delegates, Summit panelists, managers and shop-floor factory employees also emphasized where the pockets of possibility lie. Those pockets are exactly what we will leverage, in a coordinated way, for the Production Plan by utilizing the very same network approach that has made BHI the success it is.”
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