Cook Government announces $48 million boost to fast-track modular housing in WA amid property crisis

A $48 million Budget spend on two advanced manufacturing factories will aim to fast-track high density housing and key Cook Government projects. A joint venture between Wesfarmers and Built has committed $100 million and won the tender to build a high-tech facility in Neerabup in Perth’s north, with the Government’s $48 million to be split between that and an expansion of Atlas Precast in Naval Base near Rockingham. Housing Minister and self-confessed “lego geek” John Carey compared the finished products to the popular pastime. “It’s a little bit like lego walls. Walls and other components built off site, transported to site and then pieced together by construction workers. This is really the future of housing,” he said. Premier Roger Cook and three ministers were on hand to inspect the process on Tuesday, but Treasurer Rita Saffioti said her Office of Major Infrastructure Delivery is in charge of the project’s priority order. “Well, the actual funding and the allocation’s under my portfolio,” Ms Saffioti said. The Government says new technology means pre-fabrication can deliver apartments 20 per cent cheaper and 50 per cent faster. “It really means that, as I said, we can get on and build those homes,” the Treasurer said. “It’ll make a huge difference. My figures are tens of thousands of homes can be delivered between the two facilities . . . over five years. “What this does is take (modular housing) to the next level. It takes it to the apartment buildings. It takes it to the multi unit dwellings, where we need volume and we need it fast and the quality is exceptional.” It won’t be used only for housing. “The two fabricators want to see a pipeline of investment,” Ms Saffioti said. “So it’s actually the home builders working with these pre fabricated fabrication facilities who work together with that supply to deliver on site. And then there’s the Government projects . . . all the prisons, all the future hospitals, all the social and public infrastructure we need to deliver around the State.” Construction on the Neerabup site is due to start later this year, with a target completion date of 2027. “Australia urgently needs more housing, and the Built Living joint venture is well positioned to address that need using internationally-proven construction models, to deliver high quality properties,” Wesfarmers chief executive Rob Scott said. Built Living said it will support delivery of more than 2000 apartments a year. Built executive chair Marco Rossi said the Australian-owned company had spent almost two years searching for solutions to the housing crisis that “genuinely work”. “Across the world’s leading apartment markets, offsite manufacturing of high-quality construction elements is delivered at scale,” Mr Rossi said. “Built Living brings this best practice to Australia, strengthened by Built’s AI-enabled digital product capability. Western Australia is the ideal launch point for our national platform.” Atlas Group CEO Julian Ambrose said the expansion of its facility in Naval Base will produce more than 9400 apartments per year, with 30 per cent reserved for State housing and public infrastructure. “The Government’s support means we can go further, faster,” he said. “This is a step change in how we deliver construction. Moving to an automated, circulation-based manufacturing model allows us to improve consistency, reduce inefficiencies and deliver projects faster and more reliably.”