Minister calls for prefab housing to go mainstream

There is a new push for Australia to embrace prefabricated housing to lift construction productivity, reduce building costs and accelerate supply, with ambition for modular housing to become a mainstream option by 2036. The country builds around half as many homes per construction worker as it did 30 years ago, according to the Productivity Commission, while significant prefabrication accounts for just three to five per cent of new housing. The Federal Government is committing $120m through the National Productivity Fund to help states and territories address regulatory barriers to modern construction methods, alongside a planned national certification scheme to simplify compliance for manufacturers. Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury Andrew Leigh is set to outline his calls for prefab housing to go mainstream at an Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council event at Parliament House on October 29. Mr Leigh says while there has been enormous technological progress from computing power, automated manufacturing to digital design – housing construction productivity has gone backwards. “Much of our construction industry still operates in ways...