Australia is caught in a perfect storm of rising property prices, a shrinking pipeline of new builds and a chronic affordability crisis. Across Asia-Pacific, there is simply not time, materials or trades available to meet the rapidly accelerating demand for housing with our current construction models.

It’s clear we need to think outside the box on housing delivery – and modular design can, and should, be part of the solution.

Prefabricated modular construction has been long recognised as a sustainable alternative to traditional building methods. In traditional modular systems, prefabricated housing modules are built offsite in a controlled factory environment and then transported to site for swift assembly as a single module or combined and stacked with other modules.

The potential benefits of modular are manyfold, helping to reduce some of the carbon emissions generated by the construction and building operations sector – which contributes more than 40% of the emissions driving global warming.

A controlled offsite construction environment minimises safety risks, results in a high level of quality assurance, and has the potential to be 30-40% more cost-effective than traditional building methods. Standardised designs also help reduce construction waste and better enable ‘Passive House’ insulation levels, resulting in a healthier, more comfortable, and efficient building.

Seen as a strong alternative to traditional construction for uses like social housing, student housing, hotels and hospitality, new developments in modular systems offer a far greater level of flexibility and design expression than ever before.

Across the world, and particularly in geographic regions like New Zealand where most buildings are timber and can’t be recycled like steel or concrete, modular also provides much better outcomes in relation to Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment, as modular building elements can be recycled after use.

But even as modular design enters an exciting new era, the traditional evocation of the ‘shipping container residence’ remains: a single modular house transported on the back of a truck, with limited ceiling heights and flexibility. Limited public understanding of modular housing, alongside a lack of investment and regulatory challenges, is holding back the sector from its full potential.

We need to think bigger and look beyond the shipping container residence to fully embrace the possibilities of new modular technology for more efficient and cost-effective housing delivery.

While there will always be a place for ‘traditional’ building, modular is an important part of a mix of solutions to our current construction challenges. Together, we can demand more sustainable and efficient construction methods, delivering modular buildings that are resilient, flexible, and thoughtful.

by Plus Architecture Director, Ian Briggs

Image: Powerhouse Homes

Branko Miletic

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