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#8 Season 2
Dropped Aug 22
Episode 2.8 The Factory Was Supposed to Fix This. Why Hasn't It? with Dr Andrea Sharam and Peter Crossley

Episode 2.8 The Factory Was Supposed to Fix This. Why Hasn't It? with Dr Andrea Sharam and Peter Crossley

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What's This About?

Factory-built homes. Faster. Cheaper. The fix we have been waiting for. But is that the whole story?

In Episode 2.8,  I speak with Peter Crossley, General Manager at Calco Trusses & Timber, who brings a practical view from inside Australia's residential construction supply chain, and Associate Professor Andrea Sharam, from the School of PCPM and Director of the AHURI Research Centre at RMIT, who examines why Australia’s construction system struggles to deliver consistently.

We explored:

  • Is the factory actually faster, or is that a number someone made up?

  • Why does housing keep swinging between boom and bust, and who pays for that instability?

  • Why can’t builders see six months into their own pipeline, and what does that mean for every supplier behind them?

  • Standardisation can make homes more affordable. Customisation can make them more liveable. Why can’t we have both?

  • What is elemental prefabrication, and why is nobody talking about it?

  • Can the trucks, roads and site infrastructure needed to deliver factory-built homes scale too?

  • If it is not a supply problem, what is it?

Sometimes the most important housing conversation is not the one getting the most attention.

#AustralianHousing #HousingSupply #ModernMethodsOfConstruction #Prefabrication #ConstructionSupplyChain #HousingAffordability