Pre-fab housing boost for Australia
11 June 2015 by News Desk
The demand for thousands of new homes in Australia could be met by a big increase in the number of prefabricated houses.
Pre-fab housing makes up just 3% of housing construction in Australia, compared to 70% in Sweden. Now, in a bid to ease the housing shortage down under, a major new scheme aims to increase the number of pre-fabs to 10% of the market.
The University of Melbourne is launching a new Australian Research Council Training Centre for Advanced Manufacturing in Prefabricated Housing. Backed by $4 million in funding, the centre will offer 14 PhD and six post-doctoral positions with the aim of increasing the market for npre-fabs across Australia.
Darrell Todd, CEO of thinkingaustralia, says: “Prefabricated housing is a sustainable, cost-effective and proven model for development that can be seen to work well in many other countries. Pre-fabs are much cheaper than bricks and mortar but every bit as modern, comfortable and energy-efficient.”
