I recently attended an Inside Housing round table event on offsite construction at the House of Commons. It was hosted by Bouygues, with representatives from Barking and Dagenham, Croydon and the GLA present, as well as contractors and consultants.

It was a much more interesting and provocative debate than I'd expected, with a healthy level of criticism of the volume housebuilders' current standard of build (to the annoyance of some around the table). There were also warnings about the dangers to the construction industry of the university-focused nature of our education system – where are all the apprenticeships? And where will we be when Brexit bites?

The final question was: what would it be like if Tesla made houses? Clearly defects would unlikely be the same issue, but what about placemaking and community? We, as architects, need to be closely involved with these new technologies so we can make sure the design is driving the system, not the other way round.