Prefabricated, or &#;modular&#;, construction offers a high quality, affordable solution for public and residential buildings, with advantages for gender parity and far better environmental outcomes. So why do people still think it&#;s a tad &#;cheap and nasty&#;?
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If you&#;re looking at the advantages and disadvantages of prefabricated modular homes, you might be tempted to take &#;cheap&#; at face value.
But for professionals who work in the construction space, when it comes to prefabricated construction, cheap doesn&#;t equate to nasty.
As with all new buildings in Australia, there is a certain compliance criteria to meet before receiving occupancy permits, and prefab is no exception. Modern prefabricated buildings are built to the same standards of quality and functionality (if not higher) as any other building.
Builders are able to produce &#;very high-end luxury homes using their prefab units&#;, Priyan Mendis tells The Fifth Estate.
Mendis is professor of infrastructure engineering at Melbourne University and director of the ARC Training Centre for Advanced Manufacturing of Prefabricated Housing (ARC CAMPH), the centrepiece for collaborative, eco-friendly, prefabricated housing research in Australia.
&#;Already, the quality in low-rise prefab buildings produced by many prefab builders is superior to traditional builds,&#; agreed Dr Tharaka Gunawardena, research fellow of infrastructure engineering at Melbourne University.
Damien Crough is co-founder and executive chairman of PrefabAUS, the peak body for Australia&#;s building prefabrication industry.
But while these high-end homes may be high quality and look more expensive, they cut costs considerably.
In the long run, &#;financial benefits are immense and become a rather obvious choice,&#; Mendis says.
Despite this, modular construction and prefabrication represents just three per cent of Australia&#;s $150 billion construction industry &#; compare that to in Europe where countries like Sweden build 84 per cent of their houses using prefabricated elements.
&#;In Australia, one of the reasons prefab has been held back is because it is seen as a cheap and nasty way to build, so people avoided it,&#; Gensler&#;s design director, Ken McBryde, says.
Going back in time, prefab construction was often seen as cheap and nasty because of its association with demountable buildings that were used as temporary accommodation and semi-permanent structures.
These &#;dodgy&#; structures were often seen in mining towns and in schools, says Damien Crough, co-founder and executive chairman of PrefabAUS, which is the peak body for Australia&#;s building prefabrication industry.
But nowadays, at least within the construction industry, perspectives are slowly changing.
The market for prefab buildings is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 7.5 per cent until , due to a boom in construction building investments during the pandemic.
Prefab on the factory floor
A streamlined factory-floor process
When it comes to construction, there are essentially two options. First, &#;stick built&#; structures that are built from the ground up on site, and second, a &#;prefab&#; homes that are built in a warehouse and assembled on site.
The term &#;prefab&#; simply refers to structures that are built, prepared or assembled away from the building site. A window is a good example. In the modern world, you would be hard-pressed to find a building that doesn&#;t contain prefabricated elements. So when it comes to a building, we&#;re talking about degrees of prefabrication.
&#;Most buildings have an element of prefab already&#; because builders recognise the benefits of the approach, and the tech is there to allow it,&#; Crough says.
Prefab is considerably cheaper because the production process is more streamlined, less labour is needed, there is less wastage. Plus, it is much faster to put together a house that has been pre-fabricated on the warehouse floor.
&#;The more you prefab, the more certainty you have about quality and improved impact on the environment, because there is far less waste when you build off-site,&#; McBryde says.
In fact when assembled on site with prefab construction techniques, houses may be finished within a matter of days or weeks, not months. Prefab construction is almost &#;like theatre&#;.
&#;It&#;s beautiful and elegant,&#; he said. &#;It was conceived by some of the most wonderful, forward-thinking architects.&#;
&#;From quality, speed, sustainability, and gender equity, it&#;s clearly the way forward&#;.
Over time, these benefits mean that prefab is becoming more popular.
&#;I think that stigma and preconception is gone now,&#; Crough says.
&#;Consumers are more educated, want high performance and sustainability. And prefab is delivering on that.&#;
An affordable modern home built using prefabricated construction methods
A solution to the affordability crisis?
&#;Residential is where the most growth is happening,&#; said Crough.
&#;Due to a 30 per cent increase in materials and labour shortages, prefab is starting to make sense.&#;
And with Australia&#;s population growth expected to increase by 60 per cent to 37.6 million people by , the industry needs cost-effective and quality developments at higher densities.
&#;We need to build a city the size of Canberra every year to keep up with population growth,&#; Crough says.
Due to the cost competitiveness of prefab, it proves to be an alternative that just makes more sense in the current housing affordability crisis.
Mendis thinks that prefab may be the only viable option moving forward.
&#;Traditional methods will very soon disappear from the construction industry as skilled labour is fast becoming a scarce resource. Very soon, prefab and offsite manufacturing will not be an option anymore. It will be a necessity.
&#;Prefab is now capturing the market for many public infrastructure projects including railway stations, schools, police stations, and hospitals in Australia. &#; Children would leave for school holidays from their old building and walk into the new prefab building as they return from their holidays,&#; he explained.
Crough points to new procurements from modular schools in Victoria, to quarantine facilities in Western Australia and Victoria, to mental health facilities in Victoria. In sectors like aged care, health care, retail, commercial and defence, there are huge amounts of prefab being used.
Altona Primary School in Victoria was constructed using prefab techniques by Arkit. Image: Victorian School Building Authority
Resilient housing in remote areas
PrefabAUS is working with the Bushfire Council of Australia to create a model for a bushfire resilient house. It is also working on flood resilient floating houses as well.
Prefab is being used as a solution for affordable housing in remote areas &#; but that doesn&#;t mean that it is less high quality.
For ARC CAMPH, this construction process delivers a solution for social housing in remote Indigenous communities. The training centre has been working on developing concepts for social housing including housing for Indigenous communities.
&#;Prefab is ideal for remote aboriginal buildings. In a COVID environment, if you&#;re building in a community for extended periods of time, it can be very dangerous for vulnerable communities. If you can create a system that is easy to set up, you only need one or two people and they can put up a building in a matter of days,&#; McBryde says.
From to , with funding from the $4.0 million Industrial Transformation Research Training Centres scheme, ARC CAMPH engaged with 12 industry partners and four universities (including The University of Melbourne, The University of Sydney, Curtin University of Technology, and Monash University) in delivering a much-needed cutting edge for Australia&#;s budding prefab industry.
&#;Twenty per cent of the world&#;s population lacks adequate housing. We cannot solve it with conventional site-based construction methodology. We need ways to build in days, not months&#; McBryde says.
Full construction waste debris bags, garbage bricks and material from demolished house
Less waste produced
In addition to helping create climate resistant housing, prefab has far less impact on the environment, mostly because it eliminates the waste problem on site.
It is far easier to reduce waste as elements are cut to size, and to properly recycle waste elements than on a traditional construction site.
Gunawardena says Australia now faces a serious waste management problem.
&#;Prefab buildings are reusable. This adds a whole new dimension to its sustainability compared to traditionally built structures. Designers of prefab buildings are mindful of the end use and disassembly of the building.
&#;On construction sites there is a big problem with waste of materials. &#;A lot of prefab will produce no waste, and it is all cut to the size needed. Also, it is easy to pull apart and reuse or recycle,&#; Crough Crough.
&#;We are also currently looking at upcycling waste materials to engineer products and systems to be used in the prefab industry,&#; Gunawardena says.
For example, Gensler is working on a prefabricated Blue Mountains ski resort project that will feature recycled roadside crash-barriers.
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Gender parity on the construction site
Prefab may offer a solution to delivering greater gender equality on the construction site, and break through that proverbial &#;concrete ceiling&#;.
At the moment women make up 2.5 per cent of tradies and on-site construction workers, according to Monash University. At the current rate it would take around 200 years to achieve gender equality in the construction industry.
&#;I can personally attest to the truth behind this statement,&#; said Gunawardena.
&#;Most of the construction happens within a factory&#; more women [are] engaging in construction now as skilled labourers (such as carpenters, welders), project managers, supervisors, and engineers.&#;
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Housing supply in Australia has not kept up with demand. Picture: Getty Images
All of these factors are contributing to what&#;s now being described as a national housing crisis.
But could prefabricated modular construction &#; which basically involves producing standardised components or the whole of a structure in an off-site factory, then assembling them on-site &#; become a key part of the solution.
Our team sat down to look at some of the key issues and how prefab might help.
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Dr tharaka gunawardena: how could prefab help tackle australia&#;s housing crisis?
Due to the diminishing availability of skilled labour and the demand for quicker construction, prefab is fast becoming a necessity more than an option.
While providing the means to build houses with speed but with a reduced labour load, prefab can offer many more advantages.
It can allow construction with minimum on-site congestion, waste generation and pollution by moving away from a labour-oriented onsite operation to a more process-oriented offsite manufacturing and assembly process.
Prefab is fast becoming a necessity more than an option. Picture: Getty Images
The fact that prefab units, especially volumetric modules (where the whole structure including finishes and fittings are manufactured offsite as modules), can be removed from the main structure for future reuse, relocation or repurposing is also a boon. This reusability contributes significantly to prefab buildings having a much lower life cycle energy.
Construction can also start earlier because prefab panels or modules can be manufactured in the factory while the onsite preparation and foundations works get underway.
Financially, investors in housing projects can start generating revenue much earlier and the construction process itself is significantly less vulnerable to adverse weather, which means projects are finished faster.
At the same time, advanced mass customisation methods in design and manufacturing allows architecturally unique housing designs to be built while allowing for mass manufacturing.
In all areas, prefab is a more than capable option in building high-quality dwellings in a short period of time.
Joyce ferng: does australia&#;s prefab industry have the capacity to match the government&#;s housing ambitions?
Victoria&#;s housing goals align well with the PrefabAUS Prefabrication Industry Roadmap for -, setting the stage for substantial economic benefits and cost savings associated with Smart Building, which aims to decrease construction time frames and waste while increasing quality, productivity and affordability.
The roadmap projects that Australia could earn an annual benefit of $AU9 billion by , driven by the efficiency of Smart Building practices and prefabrication.
Their reusability contributes significantly to prefab buildings having a much lower life cycle energy. Picture: Getty Images
In the short term, prefabrication is a practical solution to meet Victoria&#;s pressing housing needs. Its ability to provide speedy and cost-efficient housing makes it a strong choice for the demands of both single dwellings and multi-residential buildings.
One piece of analysis points to Melbourne&#;s potential for 230,000 granny flats, a fast-track solution to housing shortages, thanks to prefabrication and the flexibility it offers in navigating town planning regulations.
This current surge in housing demand is a catalyst for elevating the prefab industry&#;s capacity and capabilities, from single dwellings to customised complex multi-residential buildings.
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But there also is the critical need for strategic initiatives and robust partnerships to provide a foundation for this burgeoning industry &#; providing answers to housing affordability, climate resilience and carbon reduction through energy-efficient design.
Professor tuan ngo: is the current regulatory framework supportive enough to fast track this many houses this fast?
There is an urgent need for more comprehensive standards and guidelines for the design of prefabricated housing.
The importance of a reliable design approach for modular structures cannot be overstated, as an unsuitable design can significantly impact both project costs and timelines.
The current surge in housing demand is a catalyst for elevating the prefab industry&#;s capacity. Picture: Getty Images
Currently, traditional &#;limit state design&#; criteria, which includes stability, strength and serviceability, are the prevailing design practice for modular buildings. But the absence of comprehensive design guidelines for prefabricated modular buildings can mean these techniques, even when using innovative materials, fall short of expectations.
To ensure a safe and robust design, the design loads (like the dead weight of the structure, the weight of occupants and finishes, and other attachments or fittings) of any structure must take into account all potential circumstances. The design loads in modular construction are different from those in traditional construction because of their unique loading characteristics (owing to the transportation, lifting and handling stages of a prefab installation).
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Building the prefab schools of the future
The construction process itself requires distinct infrastructure &#; demanding careful consideration of factors like geometric inaccuracies and installation procedures.
Offsite construction requires a highly detailed design at the early stages. This means the design requirements for modular buildings are significantly different from those of conventional structures.
But the current design of modular buildings mainly relies on a conventional design system and lacks the necessary design guidelines &#; so it&#;s imperative to establish and implement suitable design guidelines for modular prefabricated housing.
Professor shan kumar: is prefab cost effective in the medium to high rise and multi-residential market?
If it&#;s well coordinated (by engineers, architects and prefab manufacturers), uses appropriate materials (timber, steel, concrete and other sustainable composites) and smartly executed by skilled prefab-modular contractors, then prefab construction will certainly deliver a cost effective, quality home on time.
The design loads in modular construction are different from those in traditional construction. Picture: Getty Images
More of these projects in the pipeline would encourage prefab contractors to invest in research and development, which in turn, would help achieve simple, smarter, innovative modern methods of construction.
To bring more building contractors into this prefab-modular construction space, there must be a mandatory skills requirement.
Government-initiated grants for research and development as well as low interest bank loans and tax credit initiatives for setting up prefab manufacturing factories would help create interest and reduce barriers to entry.
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Greater density or urban sprawl
In terms of regulatory requirements, they must be made easy to make this smart construction a viable alternative to building affordable homes &#; not just in mid to high-rise apartments, but also in single dwellings and unit developments.
Upskilling the prefab-modular industry, which should start at the student undergraduate level, is the key to successfully getting the required number of affordable home projects completed on time.
Professor priyan mendis: in terms of research and development, has there been enough investment to allow these kind of rapid solutions for the housing crisis?
There is a genuine need for more investment into the research and development of modern methods of construction, with prefab as the base.
This need is real &#; both from the construction industry and academia.
The University&#;s Centre for Advanced Manufacturing of Prefabricated Housing (CAMPH) which, for five years, worked in strong collaboration with industry pioneers continues to disseminate its knowledge and expertise long after its conclusion.
Prefab construction will certainly deliver a cost effective, quality home on time. Picture: Getty Images
However, many more areas &#; like advanced and sustainable materials, factory automation, robotics, financing and value chain issues &#; still need further development.
Unfortunately, recent trends in government funding have seen less and less attention given to research and development in the construction sector.
The urgent need to solve the housing crisis demands a more significant commitment in government funding to ensure that higher quality housing solutions are provided for future Australian homeowners.
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