Minister Wants Prefabricated Housing to Go Mainstream as Building Productivity Slides

🔧 Modern Methods of Construction: What Would Change on Site?

Prefabrication can include walls, bathrooms or entire housing modules. Leigh says factory production reduces exposure to weather delays and allows different stages of a build to happen at the same time.

A CEDA and Urbis report estimates modern construction methods can cut building times by 20 to 50 per cent, with costs potentially falling by about 20 per cent at scale. Leigh says the approach could also help regional and remote communities, where labour shortages, transport costs and weather can hold up construction.

💰 Funding to Help Clear the Hurdles

The Federal Government is committing $120 million through the National Productivity Fund to help states and territories address regulatory barriers.

Another $4 million is going towards nationally consistent definitions and a voluntary manufacturer certification scheme, scheduled to fully commence in mid-2028. The aim is to give manufacturers a clearer way to demonstrate compliance with the National Construction Code.

There’s also a $39.3 million Kit of Parts initiative for standardised building components and $135 million for Construction Centres of Excellence to develop workers’ skills.

Separately, the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation has announced an investment of up to $120 million in Built Living, a joint venture between Built and Wesfarmers. The investment is intended to support a housing manufacturing facility in Neerabup, WA, designed to produce components for more than 2,000 apartments a year.

🏢 Modular Construction Is Already Happening

Melbourne’s nine-storey One9 apartment building was assembled in five days in 2014 using 36 prefabricated modules. That was the assembly stage, rather than the entire build. In Sydney’s Macquarie Park, Freecity’s 20-storey student accommodation project is expected to become Australia’s tallest volumetric modular building. By September, 12 levels had been assembled, around 13 weeks after the first modules arrived.

Under the Housing Australia Future Fund, $71 million is also supporting 117 crisis and transitional homes using modern construction methods, including accommodation for women and children escaping family violence.

👷 Where Does That Leave Tradies?

Leigh says skilled builders and architects will still be needed, with their skills applied differently as construction methods change. Industry group prefabAUS has set an ambition for prefabrication to reach 30 per cent of construction by 2033.

For tradies, the push includes funding for training in prefabrication and advanced construction technologies alongside investment in factories. Leigh’s ambition is that, within a decade, this way of building will be commonplace.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on where this goes at Tradiespace, and we’d encourage our members to do the same. As these methods become more common across everyday residential builds, there could be a real opportunity to get ahead by understanding how the work is changing and where your trade business fits in. Getting familiar with it early could put you in a stronger position to take on that work as it grows.