Katerra
Smart technology is changing everything. The advances taking place in the offsite manufacture of timber frame and mass wood buildings for residential and commercial buildings, is nothing short of revolutionary. New and smart technologies are improving productivity and speed of construction and as a consequence the number of construction projects utilising timber and mass wood systems is growing rapidly, both overseas and in Australia. Source: Timberbiz
A dedicated conference and exhibition organised by Frame Australia will allow delegates to fully understand the exciting developments in the Timber Offsite Construction space.
The conference will feature prominent local and global experts, with topics exclusively devoted to timber and mass wood building construction. It will enable delegates to appreciate the world-wide transformation that is taking place and how building costs are being lowered.
Announcing next year’s event, conference director Kevin Ezard said: “The June 2019 event will be the best and biggest conference yet, with a new and larger venue and an expanded 2-day sessions program.
“There’s such an exciting array of new technologies, new building products and services to meet the design and construction sector’s evolving needs”.
In Australia, an increasing shortage of skilled labour has become a key driver for greater adoption, with new timber and mass wood offsite pre-fabrication facilities emerging to meet the growing demand.
In the USA, the growth trend to prefabricated housing over the past year has been spectacular, with recent moves to mass production of buildings by a number of large corporations. These include Sidewalk Labs, an Alphabet (Google) company, with new construction methods and flexible building designs that enable radical mixed-use and walkable neighbourhoods that reduce the cost of housing.
Another example of this new approach is Katerra, a US based technology company on a mission to change, by optimizing every aspect of building design, materials supply, and construction.
“The benefits of off-site manufacturing are many. Less waste, greater precision, safer work, fewer delays,” Craig Curtis president of Katerra Architecture said. “But the greatest result stems from the decision-making shifting towards the front end of a project. By locking in the details necessary for manufacturing, we can significantly reduce risk to project schedules and budgets”.
Craig Curtis
Mr Curtis went on to say “this approach represents a wholesale shift of mindset from one-off projects to repeatable products, for mass production of componentised buildings”.
With this global shift underway, the Frame 2019 Conference will also offer suppliers the opportunity to access expanding building construction markets by participating with an exhibition display booth.
As an added incentive for 2019, booth sizes will be larger at no extra cost, with booths two to three times the previous floor area without any change in pricing from 2018.
Frame 2019 titled ‘Timber Offsite Construction’ will be held on Monday and Tuesday 17-18 June at Crown Promenade Melbourne, for details visit www.frameaustralia.com
