Can Prefabrication Make Housing More Affordable?

Housing affordability remains one of the greatest challenges facing Australia. With recently booming property prices across metropolitan and regional markets, owning a home is becoming a less and less likely prospect for many Australians.

Debates on how to solve the escalating housing affordability crisis often focus on matters of policy - however, technical innovations play an equally important part. Prefabrication techniques have been deployed overseas for decades, increasing the speed and efficiency of the construction process and bringing down costs. What role does prefabrication have to play in the Australian market to make housing more affordable?

Professor Alan Pert, Chair of the University of Melbourne's Hallmark Initiative for Affordable Housing, will host a cross-disciplinary panel spanning industry and academia to discuss this question from all relevant angles. Our speakers are:

Damian Crough (Co-Founder & Executive Director at prefabAUS - Australia's peak body for the building prefabrication industry)

Joyce Ferng (Associate Director at AECOM - leading the company's modular initiatives, working closely with digital disruptors to integrate technologies from Industry 4.0)

Dr Giorgio Marfella (Senior Lecturer at the University's Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning - an international expert on the processes of design innovation through the advancement of building products and materials)