History

The Housing Constructability Lab was founded in 1989 as a research lab of the University of Central Florida. It's first research role was with the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Efficient Industrialized Housing (EEIH) program. This multi-year, collaborative research program allowed researchers to work with some of the nations leading building scientists from the University of Oregon Center for Housing Innovation and the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC).

In the mid-90s, DOE evolved the EEIH program into its highly successful successor, the Building America program. Teaming once again with FSEC, the Lab co-founded the Industrialized Housing Partnership, one of five Building America research consortia. The Lab provided specialized technical expertise on production issues - both manufacturing and construction. HCL broadened its support base to include funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (Building America), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (PATH) and the National Science Foundation (PATH). Primary research collaborators included the Florida Solar Energy Center, the MIT School of Architecture and the Manufactured Housing Research Alliance.

In 2007 the Housing Constructability Lab entered an exciting new phase. The lab is now an independent organization, no longer affiliated with UCF. The new structure gives us the flexibility and focus to better meet the research needs of our existing partners as well as the consulting needs of our clients in the homebuilding industry.