STAR INTERNATIONAL SPEAKERS TALK UP DEVELOPMENT OF
GLOBAL OFF-SITE CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY AT TOC 22

KEVIN Ezard’s star international performers at his Frame Australia Conference and Exhibition in Melbourne in two weeks arrive at a time when the country’s off-site construction technology is entering its most exciting and challenging phase.

Gerry McCaughey, chief executive and chairman of California-based Entekra, an international leader in design, engineering and manufacture, and Ernst Young’s Industry Entrepreneur of the Year, has used his FIOSS process (builders, architects, engineers and key suppliers) to translate construction drawings and plans into the exacting specifications for off-site automated manufacturing now used in more than 90% of new-home timber construction in the USA.

Nick Milestone, chairman of the International Association for Mass Timber and chairman of TRADA UK, is also a director of projects for Mercer Mass Timber (USA), which last year purchased the Katerra CLT facility in Spokane, Washington, for $150 million.

Frame Australia will show global trends are moving towards less labour on-site with more value-adding in prefabrication to achieve faster construction, improved quality, and higher turnover.

Mr McCaughey’s presentation will outline the concept ‘If it’s not a system, it’s not a solution’ to encourage builders to understand the benefits and business opportunities in a fully integrated off-site solution for both residential and commercial construction.

Postponed last year because of Covid, Kevin Ezard has fortuitously hit the button on the timing of TOC 22 – Timber Offsite Construction – nowhere better reflected than in the Olympics state.

Increased interstate migration spurred on by the pandemic has caused a building boom in Queensland, with Brisbane’s successful bid to host the 2032 Olympic Games set to accelerate this demand even further.

With adequate resourcing and enough preparation, the influx of residential and commercial projects has the potential to bolster the state’s economy and position it as a leader in construction.

Tradesmen are in high demand as the construction industry undergoes a significant growth period, with the Master Builders Queensland 2022 Outlook predicting a ‘challenging’ but potentially prosperous year with pandemic-driven price hikes, shortages and delivery delays in building materials the stumbling blocks.

The Brisbane Olympics is set to trigger a $1.8 billion construction boom for the state’s southeast with plans for major infrastructure and construction projects already under way.

This is an exciting and lucrative opportunity for Queensland which has the potential to supercharge the state’s economy, drive massive amounts of tourism and showcase all the state has to offer.

The construction industry is mapping out solutions to combat the rising costs of labour and building materials to allow Queensland to fully reap the economic benefits of this construction boom, rather than suffer from it.

The use of prefabricated timber construction methods will be one of these solutions, providing certainty of quality and efficiency to deliver projects in full and on time.

The Melbourne event is also inextricably linked to Kevin Ezard’s theme: Timber Offsite Construction: The Zero Carbon Future.