Building Ministers across the country last week agreed to work together to cut red tape and enable further expansion and growth in Australia’s prefabricated and modular construction industry.
Ministers discussed the opportunities presented by recent developments in advanced manufacturing, supply chain and building techniques to reduce the cost of new homes by using prefabricated and modular housing.
Ministers committed to improving regulatory certainty for the sector. To this end, they have tasked the Australian Building Codes Board to work with industry and local governments to clarify existing regulatory pathways through a new guidance paper and undertake a comprehensive review of regulation improvements to reduce red tape.
In the same meeting, the ministers agreed to appoint Property Council’s Director, National Policy Francesca Muskovic to the Australian Building Codes Board.
Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic said we need to build more quality homes quickly and that prefab and modular housing can do that.
“With State and territory colleagues we agreed we need to identify red tape that might be holding back the rollout of these types of homes.
“The Australian Building Codes Board will prepare advice for Ministers on how to cut red tape in this area. We expect to receive that advice in June.
“We need to pull every lever to help use advanced manufacturing to support the rollout of these homes.”
Property Council Chief Executive Mike Zorbas said industrialised construction is an open goal for Australia, but it needs scale.
“That means innovation investment and secure demand pipelines at a time of increased construction, land and capital costs,” he said.
“There are leaders in the field doing great work but getting quick volume is the challenge. The work of the Building 4.0 CRC may help connect government and industry leadership here.”
Ministers also agreed to release a draft version of the next edition of the National Construction Code (NCC) on 1 May 2024 for public comment and feedback. Public consultation on these proposed reforms will be open until 1 July 2024.
Ministers also discussed how governments could work together to decarbonise the building sector, to achieve emissions reductions and contribute to net zero targets.
The next Building Ministers Meeting will be held in June and an Industry Dialogue will be held in May.