Housing Supply – Panelisation provides paradigm shift
13 September 2017
Wood panel factories, not on-site workers, is the only way to solve the housing supply crisis, says a Rotorua engineer
who is organising a national wood technology conference later this month
John Stulen, from the Forest Industry Engineering Association (FIEA) says, “More workers building houses on site is not
enough to really lift housing supply. Only new high volume wood panel plants will do that in a big way, which is exactly
what New Zealand needs. It simply has to happen as existing capacity like XLAM’s cross-laminated timber (CLT) plant in
Nelson and Stanley Group’s modular building factory in Matamata have delivered some added capacity, but there is room
for far more supply to meeting demand.”
He says, “In Australia, developers and large builders have already boosted their industry by adding more wood
panelisation plants. It is a welcome sign for ramping up the supply of new affordable housing. We need at least one or
two more large wood panel factories using new ultra-modern manufacturing technologies to ramp up single family and
multi-residential homes in New Zealand.”
Stulen is organising a national conference in Rotorua this month. International keynote speakers will explain how
housing and mid-rise residential building capacity has grown immensely in Australia and Canada on the back of new wood
panel and pre-fabrication plants.
In Australia, since launching its automated prefabrication facility 12 months ago, building contractor Strongbuild has
grown from strength to strength. The first of its kind in Australia, the panelisation facility in Bella Vista, northwest
Sydney, manufactures extremely precise prefab components that are highly cost-effective, allowing for rapid and safe
assembly on site.
Prefabrication now plays a part in roughly 80 per cent of Strongbuild’s projects and, more and more, the company is
choosing only to work on projects where they can add value through offsite manufacturing. Strongbuild’s business
development manager, Shane Strong, will discuss their business model at the “Changing Perceptions” annual conference in
Rotorua this month.
Prefabrication gives the company control over the entire design and build process taking place in-house, including
price, quality and timing. Strongbuild, and wood panelisation plants generally, are helping to meet the challenges of
Australia’s’ housing supply shortage. They are delivering cost efficiencies and time savings that lead to overall lower
costs per dwelling.
Strongbuild can complete a two-storey townhouse, so to lock-up stage in about three days from the floor slab being
completed. Shane Strong says that panelisation is a manufactured solution they’re absolutely committed to. They are also
doing bathroom pods, but they’re not really a modular builder. Their Sydney plant produces prefinished panels, both as
cross-laminated timber (CLT) structural elements and for walls using standard lightweight timber framing.
Strongbuild launched in 2000 with a vision to create a streamlined building system that would take the negative
variables out of the design and building process. Beginning by delivering single-residence homes in a classically
Australian style, the business soon expanded into the multi-residential space, splitting into two divisions – home
building and community building. The multi-residential arm has delivered townhouse communities, residential apartments
and vertical retirement villages, including Australia’s largest CLT project, The Gardens at Macarthur Gardens in
Campbelltown.
Growing demand from developers in the Sydney market has driven Strongbuild’s expansion, with prefabrication being the
engine that allows the company to deliver savings in material costs and construction timelines. With Aveo Norwest – a
luxury vertical retirement village –Strongbuild are able to deliver the project three months ahead of a traditional
construction timeline for a similar project.
The upcoming national building industry conference, entitled “Changing Perceptions” is focused on “The Advantages of
Timber in Mid-Rise Construction.” It's the second annual conference for Innovatek in commercial wood building and will
be held in Rotorua on 28 September. The diverse programme attracts building owners, developers, architects, engineers,
specifiers and key engineered wood suppliers.
The conference is part of wood technology week in Rotorua this month alongside the long-running FIEA WoodTECH 2017
two-day conference and trade expo. Rotorua Lakes Council are event partners as part of their “Wood-First” policy. see: www.cpetc2017.com
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