Pre-Fabrication. What Do The Experts Say?

Pre-fabrication. It’s an interesting topic and one that has been getting more of the attention it deserves in the design and construction space within Australia.

While we might be a bit slower to take it up than other countries (in Sweden for example, pre-fabrication represents approx. 70% of the total construction industry compared with Australia’s 3% – around $150 billion), those who invest in pre-fabrication reap the rewards.

What do the experts say about pre-fabrication?

You reduce your labour force on-site, you manufacture in a controlled factory environment, not the situation where you have got guys walking everywhere, inclement weather and site access, all the extra cribbing that you need to cater for the site crew, all the OH&S that is so strict on a construction site and all this sort of stuff. It just makes so much more sense.’ Professor John Smoulders, FAIB NBPR-1 – Source

Off-site manufacture (OSM) has long been recognised, in Australia and internationally, as offering numerous benefits to all parties in the construction process. More importantly, it is recognised as a key vehicle for driving improvement within the construction industry’ Thomas Fussell, Director and Chief Architect, Project Services, Department of Public Works Queensland – Source

Prefabrication is no longer just a viable alternate construction technique, but is increasingly being integrated into mainstream construction’ Warren McGregor, CEO of PrefabAUS – Source

Prefabricated housing is a next generation housing construction industry, a game changer in cost of housing, competitiveness, efficiency and productivity…Without leveraging this technology, we will see Australia going backwards as overseas firms meet the needs of our local market.’ Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University – Source

It’s a myth that buildings using off-site methodology have to be boxy or repetitive with identical cellularity. Design choices do have an impact on cost for traditional construction and off-site however, many off-site elements that enable productivity and building efficiency are indifferent to the aesthetics of the building.’ Amy Marks, President and Owner of XSite Modular in the US – Source

Prefabrication offers a host of benefits such as reduced construction times (due to concurrent rather than sequential activities), reduced waste, overcoming challenges associated with remote sites common in Australia’s widely dispersed communities across our variety of landscapes. Reduced site disruption is another; being able to fabricate a substantial school or university building offsite and install on-site over the Christmas holiday period averts the year or so of site disruption that would otherwise be involved.’ Warren McGregor, CEO of PrefabAUS – Source

Working in a factory takes a lot of the risk out of building. There are no delays due to bad weather, more efficient processes can be used, and construction can occur at any time of day’ Robert Sobyra, CSQ Director Evidence and Data – Source

Are you using pre-fabrication to your advantage? Contact our team to find out how you can improve productivity on your next project by using a pre-fabricated framing solution.