MHProNews has learned from businessnews.au that an English company from Bath, UK, ApplyInnovation, will partner with a Perth, Australia contract management group to create the first manufacturing firm dedicated to modular building focusing on residential, student housing, aged care and offices. The joint venture, ApplyModularAustralia, is set to begin production after the beginning of the year, and will employ 100 people by the end of 2016.

ApplyInnovation has built 40,000 modular units over the past 15 years, having adapted methods learned from studying Japanese automobile factories.

Western Australia’s home building industry has been dominated by on-site double-brick construction, but Summit Homes, TR Homes, Pindan, McGrath Homes and BGC Residential are promoting modular methods.

Noting he was appalled at the amount of waste in on-site construction, Anthony Pearce, Director of Innovation at Apply Innovation, said, “It’s a fundamentally inefficient process and it’s not surprising because it’s a difficult environment. To build good quality buildings on a construction site is not easy and waste is a significant problem, so we aim to get our waste down to less than one percent of the build cost value and we do that by optimising designs for material sizes. It’s easier to do that if you’re in a factory in a controlled environment.”

He says the reduced carbon footprint, and the faster construction, which can cut build time in half, and less impact on neighbors add up to a range of advantages. ##

(Photo credit: businessnews.au-modular home in Australia)

Article submitted by Matthew J. Silver to Daily Business News-MHProNews.