Prefab housing promised 50 years ago as solution to housing supply crisis

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Prefabricated, or ‘modular’ housing has been around for decades. And experts are again pointing to it as a way to ease the housing crisis. But despite proving successful overseas the domestic industry is still facing challenges.

Transcript

00:00In a high-tech factory, a robotic arm swings into action to shape the wall of a house.

00:09Most of our manufacturing members are producing homes in 12 weeks, compared to traditional

00:13constructions taking around 18 months at the moment.

00:17Pre-fabricated homes built on a production line have been lauded as a cheap and fast

00:22solution to Australia's need for housing for decades.

00:26So this is the kitchen living module and this will go to site, fully finish, all the

00:30appliances installed.

00:33Last year, the federal government announced a $900 million productivity fund to reduce

00:38red tape and launched a voluntary certification scheme to simplify approvals.

00:43But cost, regulation and financing remain key barriers.

00:47There is a perception around modular building that they are a lower cost, cheaper option

00:52but there is no cost saving over traditional building.

00:55People are not used to thinking about pre-fabrication, they might not think it's as good a quality.

01:02One sign of change is Commonwealth Bank becoming the first of the big four to offer a standard

01:07contract for pre-fab homes.

01:09All of these issues are not new.

01:11They were discussed in detail in a 150 page report for a federal government task force

01:1751 years ago.

01:20One leading construction expert says it proves a decades long lack of leadership.

01:25The way the national construction code is actually played out, it's almost a different

01:30version in every state.

01:31Calls for a national approach to help solve a national crisis.

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