International News

Marriott International Expands Modular Construction Initiative

10th May 2017

Company Expects to Sign 50 Select Brand Hotel Deals in North America in 2017 that Incorporate Prefabricated Rooms In an industry first, Marriott International today unveiled a comprehensive expansion to its initiative to drive...

Manufacturing is shifting the future of construction

3rd May 2017

The future of design and construction is about finding efficiencies and building a faster, cheaper and better quality product. Design for manufacture and assembly (DFMA) incorporates all those elements under one roof, stated several industry experts...

UMass opens largest engineered wood building in northeast US

26th April 2017

Brief: • A four-story, 87,000-square-foot engineered wood building opened this week on the campus of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, according to MassLive.com. The project is the first in the U.S. to use a...

Texas start-up to start shipping low-cost, high-tech smart houses

18th April 2017

Texas modular housing start-up Kasita has begun producing 33 square metre units costing $139,000 each. The units, described as the “iPhone for housing” are delivered with a “queen-size bed, kitchen, bathroom,...

Prefab building company bringing manufacturing back to Australia

18th April 2017

An example of one of Arkistruct's prefabricated homes. Image: Arkistruct Brisbane-based prefabricated building company, Arkistruct, has announced it will be taking its business out of China and bringing it back to Australia. ...

Sync’s bathroom pods help builders meet project deadlines at NSW prison

14th April 2017

Sync was engaged by the builders to supply 120 bathroom pods for the prison expansion project at the Wellington Correctional Facility in NSW. Part of a $3.6B investment by the NSW government into the state’s prison system,...

LEVER Architecture is bringing mass timber construction into the mainstream

17th March 2017

The Architectural League’s Emerging Voices award and lecture series spotlight individuals and firms with distinct design “voices” that have the potential to influence the discipline of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban...

Dutch firm KCAP to design new district for Seoul

17th March 2017

Rotterdam-based firm KCAP Architects & Planners has won an international design competition to regenerate an area of Seoul known as Sewoon District #4. KCAP will use a modular building system to transform the district into...

Prefabrication's predicament: It's much harder than it looks

16th March 2017

Many of the nation’s largest contractors, including Gilbane, Mortensen, Skanska, and Turner, have been utilizing prefab techniques on select projects for a decade or more. Trade labor shortages. Thinner margins. Tighter schedules. Quality...

Martinsons to rise CLT production capacity up to 22,000m3 per year

28th February 2017

Swedish Martinsons is now commissioning its new production line for cross-laminated timber (CLT). This will increase the company's production capacity for these construction components to a total of 22,000m3 per year. “Demand is...

All-timber apartments assembled like flat-packed furniture

26th February 2017

A material used in construction for centuries is making a comeback, as developers and builders take timber to new heights. On a site in Campbelltown, where four apartment towers are being built, almost the only noise you can hear is...

Australian-made CLT from local plantation timber

20th February 2017

The long wait for Australian-made cross laminated timber (CLT) is nearly over. Xlam Australia will open its first CLT manufacturing plant in Wodonga and be producing panels for construction by the close of 2017. The company...

Manufactured Assemblies

9th February 2017

More efficient construction methods are a no-brainer, but the industry is notoriously slow to change. Construction is wasteful. According to reports from the United States, a third of materials that come onto a construction site go out...

84 modular rooms supplied to Canberra Hospital to speed up build times

9th February 2017

Ausco Modular supplied a total of 84 modular units to Canberra Hospital, helping save build time and allowing patients and staff to occupy the new facilities well ahead of schedule. Working with fit out and refurbishment specialists...

Australia’s tallest engineered timber building planned for Brisbane

8th February 2017

Australia’s tallest engineered timber building will be developed in Brisbane by Lendlease and Impact Investment Group. Impact Investment Group will fund the development of the 45m-tall building, 5 King, at the Brisbane Showgrounds...

Tallest wood-framed building in the Netherlands wins a WAN award

30th January 2017

There is a lot to love about Patch22, the tallest wood building in the Netherlands, which just won a World Architecture News Residential award as best building of 2016. The 100 foot tall, seven storey building in an Amsterdam industrial...

Another prefab skyscraper project on the horizon for Melbourne

23rd January 2017

Melbourne will be home to another prefabricated skyscraper, with the latest addition being a Hayball-designed student accommodation building that will top out at 150 metres. Joining Rothelowman’s La Trobe Tower, 42-50 La Trobe Street...

New York’s largest modular hotel is half complete

16th January 2017

What will become New York’s largest modular hotel is currently half complete. The Wall Street Journal reports that the 20-storey, 300-room development has been shipped to New York from Poland in 210 pieces. Modular...

Shaping the healthcare industry using modular construction

12th January 2017

The modular construction industry is varied and can be used for numerous applications such as schools, commercial construction, offices, retail establishments, healthcare, hospitals, military installations, dormitories, hotels, and remote...

Australia’s First Multi-storey Office Building Made of Wood

11th January 2017

Seven storeys made all of wood: International House Sydney is Australia’s first multi-storey office and commercial building featuring a supporting structure built entirely of wood. The new International House Sydney forms the gate to...

Australia’s tallest prefab tower reaches full height

10th January 2017

Australia’s tallest prefabricated tower has reached full height in Melbourne’s CBD. The 133 metre, 44 level La Trobe Tower apartment building uses an innovative new prefabricated construction method developed by Hickory Group and designed by...

CitizenM developing pre-fab hotel on the Bowery

9th January 2017

Hotel developer and operator citizenM is planning the 20-story, 300-room project at 185 Bowery. A Dutch company constructed the building in Poland and shipped it to New York in 210 pieces. CitizenM, which has nine hotels operating and 14 in...

Afghanistan signs $11.4m contract to establish prefabricated construction factory

7th January 2017

A contract worth $11.4 million for the establishment of prefabricated construction factory was signed in the presence of President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani today. The Minister of Urban Development and Housing Syed Sadat Mansoor Naderi...

Gorgeous new prefab is modular. Or is it Flat-pack? Or post-and-beam? Never mind.

5th January 2017

We have always drawn a distinction between modular construction, where boxes are built in a factory with interior finishes installed, and flat-pack construction, the colloquial IKEA-ish name for panellized construction, where panels are built in...

Dublin pair unveil €2.9bn scheme for green homes and factories in the UK

1st January 2017

WELink also targeting US market and global solar energy expansion. Irish-founded and Dublin-headquartered modular home builder and solar energy developer WElink Group has signed a €2.9bn joint venture to build over 25,000...

Imagining a Wooden Skyline

26th December 2016

Until recently, there were two basic ways of using wood in construction: chop down whole tree trunks for heavy beams or saw them into two-by-fours. The first, which produced log cabins and medieval church roofs, is costly and inefficient today,...

Sync bathroom pods addressing diverse needs of student accomm sector

22nd December 2016

Student-centric design was the topic of discussion at the 2016 Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) Forum held recently in Sydney. While discussing the key design principles for PBSA, Architectus underlined the need for a clear...

Largest mass timber building in U.S. opens in Minneapolis

21st December 2016

The seven-story, 220,000-square-foot T3 office building in Minneapolis’s North Loop district has become what is believed to be the tallest modern wood building in the U.S., reports The Architects Newspaper. The structure opened late...

Taiwan’s first CLT building paves way to greener alternatives to concrete and steel

20th December 2016

Taiwan’s first-ever cross-laminated timber (CLT) building has risen in Taichung’s concrete jungle—an impressive feat of engineering given the island’s hot and humid climate. Local firm Origin Architects & Planners designed the wooden...

Construction set to begin on Vancouver's first temporary modular housing project

20th December 2016

The development is expected to take just six weeks to build — with residents able to move into the units in late February. Vancouver is set to break ground on its first temporary modular housing development. The $3.5-million...

KEF Infra One Offsite Manufacturing Park Launched

19th December 2016

World's largest facility of its kind with a total area of one million square feet has been developed at an investment of Rs 650 crores. KEF Infra, India's only integrated offsite manufacturing company that manufactures hospitals,...

Maximizing modular: How the emerging building method is gaining ground in construction

14th December 2016

With the planned 1800 Terry building in Seattle, Kirkland WA-based Seawest Investment Associates is gunning for the first urban high rise project to be awarded a priority green building permit from the Seattle Department of Construction and...

New draft code for modular construction aims to increase industry acceptance

12th December 2016

Prefabaus’ Modular Construction Codes Board is developing a new code of practice for modular construction, which aims to remove misconceptions and pave the way for greater adoption of the technology. MCCB steering committee member John...

Building the Case for Tall Wood Buildings

12th December 2016

Taller buildings constructed mainly of wood are an inexpensive, attractive, and environmentally friendly option, but current building codes in the United States make them hard to build, said a panel of architects and engineers speaking in October...

Offsite construction a viable alternative: Architect

7th December 2016

Offsite construction is an efficient way to construct wood buildings, says architect Randall Walter, who is from a design-build firm that makes a strong case for why its future is now. Walter, of New Hampshire-based Bensonwood, says...

Builder explains the benefits of CLT during Toronto Wood Solutions fair

6th December 2016

The first cross-laminated timber (CLT) building in the U.S. — a four-storey, 92-room “blast resistant” hotel for military personnel in Alabama — has sold builder Jeff Morrow on the advantages of the pre-engineered wood product. ...

Can SOM build a wood skyscraper in a city of steel giants

6th December 2016

Architects at SOM are working on the Timber Tower, a 42-story building that is made entirely out of cross-laminated timber for the floors and laminated timber for the columns, reports Chicago Magazine's Whet Moser. Cross-laminated timber...

MCC invests in cost-saving, green prefab construction

2nd December 2016

Nearly 800 families will be the next batch of beneficiaries of the government's subsidized housing program when they move in early next year. But theirs will be a bit different from other housing projects, the new homes in Baoshan district being...

Can prefab construction make homes more affordable?

2nd December 2016

India needs 50 million homes by the year 2022 and there are more than 90 smart cities being planned. To achieve such a huge feat in a short time, industry experts point out that offsite construction and pre-fabricated modular units will play an...

Ladacor completes shipping container-based four-story modular Studio 6 hotel

2nd December 2016

Ladacor today announced the official opening of the Studio 6 Extended Stay Hotel in Bruderheim, Alberta following construction utilizing Ladacor's Advanced Modular System™ building technology, making it one of the largest and tallest shipping...

Metsä Wood and Sisco cooperate on module production

1st December 2016

The Metsä Wood division of the Finnish Metsä Group and the Finnish prefabricated-house company Sisco recently agreed to cooperate in the production of modules based on Kerto-LVL for the building of framed-construction prefabricated houses....

A walk in the woods of T3 timber building

30th November 2016

How many office buildings smell like freshly cut timber and offer a wall of mounted bike racks as a form of utilitarian art? To date, there may be only one. This month developer Hines completed construction of T3, its seven-story...

What the future holds for prefab in 10 years

30th November 2016

The Australian commercial construction industry has been slow to adopt prefabricated building products in their projects. SBS Group, a leading manufacturer and supplier of prefabricated and prefinished frames and engineered facades for...

‘Stackable’ modular apartments to be built for homeless families

30th November 2016

Dublin City Council to place prefabricated units on Fishamble Street and in Coolock The four Dublin local authorities will view six samples of 'cellular modular housing', from six providers, which have gone on display. The factory built houses could...

Fast Construction with Prefabricated Wood Elements

30th November 2016

Using wood elements allows faster building turnaround. This leads to more profitable construction projects and shorter investment payback times. The pace of construction is kept at the desired level, because prefabrication reduces some of the...

Largest mass timber building in U.S. opens in Minneapolis

29th November 2016

The seven-story, 220,000-square-foot T3 office building in Minneapolis’s North Loop district will become the tallest modern wood building in the U.S. when it opens tomorrow. Designed by Michael Green Architecture and the DLR Group, the...

Building 'fly over' homes to solve housing challenge

28th November 2016

Port Elizabeth property developer Johann Dreyer and his team at Direct Group Africa have identified the space above suburban homes as prime real estate. “We know that most municipalities are faced with the challenge of providing...

Labour shortages force US builders to adopt modular

21st November 2016

A persistent shortage of construction workers across the US is prompting some of the nation’s largest home builders to experiment with a model they once derided: factory production. KB Home last month unveiled a model home equipped...

Prefabricated house in Amsterdam features wooden walls, zigzagging stairs and split levels

19th November 2016

Inside this wooden, prefabricated house in Amsterdam by Marc Koehler Architects, an angular black staircase crisscrosses between split levels. Lofthouse I is located at the end of a terrace in Houthaven quay –Amsterdam's port. Large...

World's tallest modular high-rise by SHoP Architects opens in Brooklyn

18th November 2016

Tenants have begun moving into 461 Dean, a New York residential building by SHoP Architects described as the world's tallest modular tower and billed a solution to meet the high demand for urban housing. The 32-storey tower is located...

32-story prefab multifamily tower opens in Brooklyn, NY

17th November 2016

A 32-story, 363-unit apartment tower composed of prefabricated, modular parts with a steel frame has opened in Brooklyn, NY, and purports to be the tallest modular building in the world, The Wall Street Journal reported. The project is located at...

CitizenM Hotel on the Bowery Begins Hoisting the Modular Units into Place

17th November 2016

An exciting moment for CitizenM and its new Lower East Side hotel was actually scary for neighbours in the vicinity. If you happened to be near Bowery and Delancey yesterday morning, you saw it. The controversial crane – a Liebherr...

Concrete Manufacturing Firm to Open $12M Precast Plant

16th November 2016

Bristol Group precast concrete being installed at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Ohio Valley Precast LLC, a newly-formed subsidiary The Bristol Group, plans to open a $12.2 million precast concrete manufacturing...

World’s tallest modular building is now open

16th November 2016

461 Dean, the first residential building of Brooklyn's 22-acre Pacific Park mega-project, is now open. Taking the title of tallest modular building in the world, the 32-story rental property developed by Forest City Ratner Companies and designed...

Multi-storey modular construction 'provides answer to rising costs'

15th November 2016

Matrix Homes, the Trentham-based company operating from the old General Motors factory is about to enter the high-rise market offering steel frame modular construction for hotels and apartment buildings. This follows them signing a contract to...

Modern home combines sustainability with contemporary design

13th November 2016

Architectural firm, Arches, has recently created a contemporary, eco-friendly villa close to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania and the country’s largest city. Clad in 650m² of sustainable Kebony wood, this unique property has been...

Research centre to unlock potential of prefabricated housing

7th November 2016

A new research training centre that aims to propel growth in the prefabricated housing industry has launched its research programme at The University of Melbourne. The Australian Research Council (ARC) Training Centre for Advanced...

Does modular construction work?

2nd November 2016

The 32-story tower at 461 Dean Street in Brooklyn, N.Y. is made almost entirely out of rectangular modules, each the size of a shipping container. When the first residents move in this fall, the apartment building will be the tallest modular...

Japan’s biggest house builder snaps up US firm in overseas expansion bid

1st November 2016

With a shrinking population at home, Japanese prefab housing pioneer Daiwa House Group has agreed to buy a regional US house builder for $251m. The group, said to be Japan’s biggest house builder, will acquire 82% of Reston,...

In a City of Steel Giants, Can SOM Build a Wood Skyscraper?

20th October 2016

The firm behind the John Hancock Center, Willis Tower, and the Burj Khalifa wants to build new skyscrapers with a very old material—and it’s more fire resistant and environmentally friendly than you think. A while back I was at...

UBC Branches out into Tall Wood Structures Using BIM

19th October 2016

Tall wood structures have been cropping up all over the news lately. Although it can be off-putting to designers that current building regulations can limit how tall these structures are, the technology behind building a skyscraper of wood is...

CLT Plant Ltd sets up CLT board factory in Kauhajoki - EUR 11.8 million investment

19th October 2016

Demand for cross-laminated timber (CLT) is exceeding supply in Finland. CLT Plant Ltd is setting up a CLT board production plant in Kauhajoki to meet growing demand. The factory will employ 150 employees and net sales are estimated to be over EUR...

Cubicco’s hurricane-proof modular homes break into Miami’s construction scene

17th October 2016

Everyone wants affordable housing, but people who live in areas plagued by natural disasters also need resilient structures that won’t collapse or fly away when wind speeds pick up. A Dutch company named Cubicco created a line of flat-packed...

Proposed timber tower shoots high into Chicago's sky

14th October 2016

It remains to be seen whether or not the River Beech Tower goes ahead, but it's no mere blue-sky rendering concept. Decades before the age of megatall skyscrapers like the Burj Khalifa, Chicago boasted bragging rights as home of the...

Prefabricated timber apartments to boost Adelaide housing market, industry predicts

11th October 2016

Timber-based prefabricated apartments being built in Adelaide could give momentum to the South Australian Government's push for more inner city development, the Housing Industry Association (HIA) says. South Australia's first wooden...

Canada Tops Out World’s Tallest Wood-Frame Building

5th October 2016

The new University of British Columbia student housing tower rises 18 stories to reach a stunning 178.8 feet (53 meters) tall. Under construction at the University of British Columbia Point Grey campus, the CA$51.5 million mass timber...

Scott Construction nets silver as Wesbrook centre brings CLT inside

5th October 2016

Scott Construction Group's innovative use of glulam beams and columns and cross-laminated timbers (CLT) for the interior of the new Wesbrook Community Centre has earned it a Vancouver Regional Construction Association silver award in the general...

Hilton seeks to double its presence across Africa with Its First Modular Hotel

3rd October 2016

Hilton has confirmed that an additional 76 guest rooms will be added to Curio, The Legend, Lagos Airport, bringing the room count up to 130 Hilton Worldwide has marked this year’s African Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) with the announcement of...

Australia spends millions in quest for manufactured multi-storey housing

25th August 2016

The University of Sydney and Australian property group Lendlease have been awarded a A$3m (US$2.3m) grant by the Australian government to work on prefabricated multi-storey housing solutions. High-tech, renewable materials and advanced...

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