New building methods can fix housing crisis

Despite much effort to address the housing crisis, we continue to face a chasm between the supply of new homes and the necessary national and state housing targets that would meaningfully address it.

This reality is bringing industry and community together in a shared sense of urgency. The gathering of the prefabrication and industrialised construction players in Sydney this week for Offsite 2024 has provided a renewed focus on the options for a way forward.

Queenslanders are struggling with rising housing costs, and more people are being excluded from home ownership and the private rental market.

The surge in demand for assistance is unprecedented, and vulnerable people are residing in public spaces or in other temporary arrangements while they are assisted in searching for a longer-term solution.

The undersupply of homes is driving up costs, while construction and workforce challenges are negatively impacting housing delivery.

In the face of this pressing human need, there has never been a more important time to be bold and push the limits of new technologies and innovation in the delivery of housing.

We need to increase our adoption of Modern Methods of Construction, or MMC.

Queensland has already committed, under the Government’s Infrastructure Productivity and Workforce Action Plan, to incorporating modular construction or other forms of MMC in 50 per cent of government infrastructure projects by 2030.

Queensland is also the first state or territory to initiate a government-led response to MMC in housing with its volumetric modular housing program. Currently, the commitment is for 600 modular homes to be in production by the end of 2024.

However, the current initiatives, though commendable, are limited in scale and speed. A more expansive and rapid implementation is needed.

Guaranteed investment to achieve production at scale would drive industry growth and investment in manufacturing capability. Production could also be linked to the housing targets the Queensland Government and the Opposition have committed to, stretching out to 2046 and providing a pipeline for the industry to scale up.

We can borrow from post-war history when prefabricated homes helped scale up supply through the Queensland Housing Commission.

And volumetric or modular housing is only one small part of the MMC agenda. Industry is also seeking additional focus and investment from government to transition to a future of industrialised manufacturing capability.

Government decision-makers must seriously consider incentives, pilot projects, and demonstration sites as initial proof of concept to validate what is possible with MMC.

This should include support for procurement and supply chain pathways to incorporate prefabricated building components and further investment in regional manufacturing hubs, which can drive jobs, diversity of workforce, and local economic activity.

The federal and state government plans for Advanced Manufacturing is another opportunity for Queensland to promote its regional capability and lead nationally, to avoid resources being lost to larger markets like Sydney and Melbourne.

As we move to new ways of building, we also need the support of a regulatory system that ensures quality and allows the industry to thrive. It must be practical, workable and nationally consistent.

The NSW Government has just released the details of proposed new legislation for prefabricated buildings and the Australian Buildings Code Board is drafting a regulatory handbook. Queensland must engage and keep pace with these changes.

The last 18 months have seen unprecedented investment from state and federal governments into housing responses. The tangible outcomes of this investment in social and affordable housing are promising, with many projects underway.

However, delivering housing supply to meet escalating demand through traditional construction methods alone will not be achieved. We need to develop new approaches and ramp up the adoption of modern technologies if we are to meet the needed supply.

The case to invest in these new approaches – is right now – to ensure MMC is an integral and valuable part of the overall housing construction system of the future.

- Paul Bidwell is CEO of Master Builders, Fiona Caniglia is CEO of Q Shelter