2024 has been a record year of action for Building 4.0 CRC as we work with our industry partners to tackle the big issues affecting the building industry and our communities.

Housing remains front and centre, dominating the last sitting weeks of Federal Parliament, with recognition that Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) must be harnessed to address supply and affordability issues. The Federal Treasurer’s recent announcement of the new $900 million National Productivity Fund could prove to be the most impactful housing initiative of the year, providing states and territories with an opportunity to unleash the full force of our manufacturing sector for better building.

Getting the settings right to leverage the full potential MMC offers, including guidance on achieving National Construction Code compliance in buildings that employ MMC, is the focus of the Australian Building Codes Board’s (ABCB) just released Prefabricated, modular and offsite construction handbook. We are proud to partner with the ABCB on this important work.

A milestone for the CRC has been undertaking the Homes NSW MMC Program, which commenced in May and is focused on developing strategies and methods to utilise MMC to deliver quality social housing faster. The first phase of the Program will culminate in the design and development of a demonstrator apartment to showcase how the kit-of-parts approach is employed and is anticipated to be ready by June 2025.

A new initiative in 2024 was the CRC’s monthly Knowledge Shares, where our partners and researchers have shared their work, insights and learnings. The commitment to showcasing best practice was on fully display on 20 November when Breathe Architecture hosted a tour of its beautiful Home Truth installation at the National Gallery of Victoria for the CRC and it partners.

Shining the spotlight on what great looks like and surfacing solutions together have formed the central themes of our work this year, and included providing delegates on our research tour in February to San Francisco and the Greater Bay area with first hand experience of MMC innovation, our impactful Housing Innovation Showcase in June and our third annual conference which captured our ambition in its title – Making it Happen. You can read all about these activities and more in our 2024 Annual Report.

As the final newsletter for the year, I would like to personally thank all our industry partners and researchers for your continued efforts and commitment to the CRC as we together pursue our bold agenda.

I wish you all the best for a happy, relaxing and restorative holiday season and look forward to seeing you all again next year. Our office closes COB Friday 20 December 2024 and reopens Monday 13 January 2025.

Our team showcased the 1:5 scale prototype model of a façade system of exterior components to demonstrate how the kit-of-parts can be employed. In a milestone for the Program, the team is also developing a demonstrator apartment which will be completed in June 2025.

More than 100 people attended the forum and engaged in robust discussions to workshop opportunities and challenges with implementation,  procurement and supply chain, design flexibility, kit-of-parts and standardisation as well as metrics and evaluation.

Thanks to everyone who attended and to Mark Byrne, Homes NSW’s Acting Head of Housing Portfolio for opening the forum, encouraging everyone to lean in, embrace continuous improvement and push forward. Learn More >>