Daniel Miles and Kathryn Robinson’s ABC News piece on multi-generational living quoted Hugh as former head of research at Housing Australia, now principal of Hartigan and Associates.
His point was demand, not technology. Modular or pre-built housing is still only 3 to 5 per cent of Australia’s construction industry, against about 20 per cent in Japan and nearly 50 per cent in Sweden. People do not necessarily trust the product yet.
Modelling by his firm found that with coordinated industry and government action, modular construction could deliver an additional 192,000 homes over the next 20 years — about 20–25,000 extra homes a year by the twentieth year, on top of the 160–180,000 Australia usually builds.
Portrait of Hugh in the piece: ABC News, Scott Preston. Lead photograph: Sheena and Jacqui Carter at the modular house, ABC News, Billy Lim. Read the original on ABC News.
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