Can flat-pack houses help with the housing crisis on the island of Ireland?

A Limavady-based firm has become Ireland's largest manufacturer of so-called flat pack houses after a deal to buy two factories in Monaghan. FastHouse is buying the businesses from Kingspan, the Irish construction giant. The deal has again raised the question if offsite construction can help tackle the housing crisis on both sides of the border. It is a building method where structures are made in a factory before being transported and assembled on site. FastHouse specialises in making timber frames for houses. They are an alternative to the usual method of building the skeleton of a house from concrete blocks. The exterior of the house continues to be made from bricks. FastHouse currently makes about 1,700 house kits a year in Limavady and the two Monaghan factories will add an initial 1,300 kits, with a plan for further investment and growth. The deal also takes employment at FastHouse from 190 to about 380. "In a market where housebuilding requirements are beyond what are currently being delivered by the construction industry, we see growth opportunity in housebuilding in general," FastHouse's managing director Colin Clements told BBC News NI. "We also see timber frame becoming