Minister tells prefab firms: We need you
Housing Minister Phil Twyford has told prefabricated home builders that the Government’s KiwiBuild programme can’t be delivered without them.
‘‘This is not some science fiction dream. We can do this, if we have a bit of backbone and pursue the right policies,’’ Twyford told industry group PrefabNZ’s conference in Auckland yesterday.
‘‘KiwiBuild using mass procurement gives us the opportunity to build at scale, with contract work at volume, and with the certainty of multi-year contracts, which will allow firms to invest in the technology, the production processes, and design, and business models that will transform your industry.’’
The traditional building industry could not deliver many of the homes KiwiBuild needed, he said.
‘‘Off-site manufacturing is the disrupter that our construction industry desperately needs,’’ Twyford said.
‘‘This has been the holy grail of New Zealand residential construction ever since the first Labour government worked with James Fletcher in the 1930s using mass production and standardisation to the building of state houses.’’
KiwiBuild could break the cycle of under-building, building in the wrong places, and building the wrong kinds of dwellings, he said.
There was huge, unsatisfied demand for one- and two-bedroom dwellings, including for retirees, which the market was not delivering, he said.
‘‘Never have we been able to achieve in this country the scale necessary to make that breakthrough, let alone maintain it,’’ Twyford said.
‘‘We are a government of change, and in our country we can no longer afford to ignore the social and economic consequences of the housing crisis.
‘‘I believe that off-site manufacturing can deliver quality homes at scale and at better prices.’’
Prefabrication also offered the chance to grow a productive, skills-based industry, he said.
‘‘This is an opportunity to grow larger firms that can raise productivity levels, that can invest in the plant, and the R&D [research and development], and the specialist skills to operate at scale and get much better value out of the supply chain,’’ Twyford said.
‘‘If we can grow a number of large firms we can end up with a more competitive and dynamic market.
‘‘KiwiBuild will take a little time to ramp up. In our first year we aim to deliver 1000 homes.
‘‘The following year our target is an additional 5000 KiwiBuild homes, and in the third year 10,000.’’
Ultimately, KiwiBuild offered ‘‘the ingredients for a pipeline of work of 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 [homes] a year over and above what the current market is producing’’, he said.
Through a show of hands at the conference, prefabrication company representatives sent Twyford the message that the consenting system was ‘‘broken’’.
They indicated it was a barrier for local fabricators wanting to grow, as well as for giant overseas enterprises wanting to export their prefabricated homes and products to New Zealand.
A consultation on overhauling the consenting system would begin in about the middle of the year.
Pamela Bell from PrefabNZ said a project begun with the Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch city councils could lead to consistency in consenting between the three main cities.