Industry trumpets KiwiBuild prefab fix
"Housing manufacturers and builders are telling us that they are willing to forgo some profit in the short term to deliver KiwiBuild." Pamela Bell, PrefabNZ
Prefabricated factory-built houses and apartments could deliver 7000 homes a year, Housing Minister Phil Twyford has been told.
A report by off-site design and construction group PrefabNZ indicates its member companies could deliver about 7000 homes each year from 2020, but the number could be even higher.
‘‘This would deliver 70 per cent of KiwiBuild’s target of 10,000 homes per year over 10 years,’’ said PrefabNZ chief executive Pamela Bell.
As prefabricated homes are built in factories and assembled quickly on site, the much-decried building skills shortage that threatens to hold back the Government’s KiwiBuild programme could be bypassed.
The capacity to build more quality homes already existed in New Zealand, Bell said. This meant prefabricated homes would not need to be built overseas and shipped to New Zealand.
The prefab companies that were surveyed for the report said they were ready to reinvest about 8 per cent of revenue, and up to 20 per cent in some cases, to increase the rate at which they could turn out buildings for KiwiBuild.
‘‘This is astonishing news. New Zealand housing manufacturers and builders are telling us that they are willing to forgo some profit in the short term to deliver KiwiBuild,’’ Bell said.
‘‘This research is economic proof that our innovative construction industry does not need a big multinational outsider in order to deliver on the KiwiBuild promise. We can have several New Zealand businesses using innovative building methods working together, using homegrown materials and sharing specialist expertise.
‘‘For example, different companies might make wall panels, or roof pieces or bathroom pods, or any of the elements that go into a building.’’
The report was due to be launched at the PrefabNZ CoLab conference in Auckland today, attended by Twyford.
The Government hopes the KiwiBuild programme can deliver 100,000 affordable homes over the next 10 years, with about half of them in Auckland. But the National Party is predicting those targets will not be hit.
The prefab industry is small, with the companies surveyed representing just 2 per cent of construction GDP, the report found.
Those surveyed were predominantly in Auckland and Christchurch (each with 26 per cent), while Wellington was home to 21 per cent. There were also some in regional centres including Tauranga, Whangarei and Rotorua.
But it appeared that three large ‘‘disrupters’’ would do most of the heavy lifting for KiwiBuild. These three could produce about 6500 of the 7000 homes.
There is also a buzz that New Zealand could see some big overseas companies move in to capitalise from KiwiBuild. Fleetwood Homes, Australia’s biggest homes prefabricator, last month filed a certificate of incorporation with the Companies Office to create Fleetwood Ltd.
In order for the prefab industry to scale up, the Government must deliver certainty to prefabricators so they have confidence to invest. Bell has raised the possibility of the Government offering low- or no-interest loans to the industry.