Building 4.0 CRC

2024 has been a record year of action for Building 4.0 CRC as we work with our industry partners to tackle the big issues affecting the building industry and our communities. With the housing crisis and cost of living pressures escalating, our work to innovate across the building sector has never been more important. Highlights include: • Starting 14 new projects including the Homes NSW Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) Program, which focuses on developing strategies and methods to utilise MMC to deliver quality social housing faster • Shining a spotlight on the ‘possible’ at the Housing Innovation Showcase in June, highlighting new materials, design, products, processes, platforms and technologies that accelerate construction timelines, enhance safety and improve sustainability outcomes • Hosting the third Building 4.0 CRC Annual Conference, bringing together the best and brightest international and national thought leaders to accelerate innovation into action • Exploring regulatory reforms that support MMC and offsite construction • Developing new skills and training programs to foster the building workforce of the future • Launching Knowledge Shares, forums that allow our partners to engage with and hear from business and government leaders and innovators on key issues and trends • Leading a study tour of industrialised construction companies and researchers in the San Francisco and Greater Bay area. We’d like to thank all our industry partners and researchers for their continued efforts and commitment. We wish everyone the best for a happy, relaxing and restorative holiday season and look forward to seeing you all again in 2025. Our office closes COB Friday 20 December 2024 and reopens Monday 13 January 2025. 

NEW ARTICLE | Our PhD student, Fernando Pavez, participated in the 57th Architectural Science Association conference on the Gold Coast in late November. Since 1963, the ASA Conference has served as an open, international, interdisciplinary forum to promote high-quality research, practice and education in environmentally sustainable design in the built environment. Fernando and his co-authors, Duncan Maxwell and Victor Bunster have developed a toolkit for advancing Circular Building in the Australian built environment. The paper presented at this conference uses qualitative literature synthesis to create a more comprehensive definition of circular building. This research clarifies meanings and establishes patterns of relationship between Circular Building concepts. The paper is called ‘Towards a Comprehensive Definition of Circular Building Through Qualitative Meta-synthesis’. You can read the abstract on our website: https://lnkd.in/ghyPDEXS The conference proceedings will be published soon. #circular #circulareconomy #circularbuilding #circularconstruction #architecturalscience

Building 4.0 CRC is bringing the Homes NSW Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) research and development program to life through an innovative demonstrator apartment!   The apartment, due for completion mid-2025, will give people the opportunity to experience first-hand the look and feel of an MMC home created through a systemic program approach and using a standardised kit-of-parts manufactured offsite. An innovative approach that reduces construction timelines and unlocks significant economic efficiencies.   This is a significant milestone for the research and development program which incorporates a focus on urban design and site analysis, defining products and components for standardisation, benchmarking, supply chain, procurement and education.   The research and development program is a partnership between Homes NSW and Building 4.0 CRC to deliver quality permanent social housing faster through innovation. Stay tuned for more updates in 2025 and follow our progress here: https://lnkd.in/g6QphRWb    #BuildingInnovation #ConstructionExcellence #MediumDensityHousing #Sustainability #ModularConstruction #MMC #SocialHousingInnovation #HomesNSW

WEEKEND READ | One of our PhD students – Dilshi Dharmarathna – presented at the Architectural Science Association’s 57th International Conference, which was held last week on the Gold Coast. Dilshi and her co-authors – Peter Graham and Victor Bunster – compared and summarised the targets, roadmaps, policies, practices and initiatives in Australia and New Zealand to decarbonise the building industry. It also explores the implications for research and practice. The paper is called ‘A policy and roadmap review for building sector decarbonisation – insights from Australia and New Zealand’. You can read the abstract on our website: https://lnkd.in/ghyPDEXS The conference proceedings will be published soon. #sustainablebuildings #netzero #decarbonisation #sustainablebuilidngindustry #greenhousegasemissions #nationallydeterminedcontributions

Who doesn’t love a great prototype! Yesterday Building 4.0 CRC showcased its 1:5 scale prototype model of a façade system of exterior components at its second progress workshop with Homes NSW on Dharug land. The workshop spotlighted the research and development (R&D) being done across the Homes NSW Modern Methods of Construction Program to deliver quality social housing faster. Procurement, supply chain, design flexibility, kit-of-parts and standardisation were some of the important topics tackled. Thanks to Mark Byrne, Homes NSW’s Acting Head of Housing Portfolio for opening the session, encouraging everyone to lean in, embrace continuous improvements and push forward. Read more about the Homes NSW MMC R&D program 👉 https://lnkd.in/gJ29z6wd Future Building Initiative University of Melbourne Monash University Urban Lab Mathew Aitchison Chris Knapp Kathy Mac Dermott Daryl Patterson Rob van Wanrooy Daiman Otto Duncan Maxwell Professor Shane Murray Lee-Anne Khor Belinda Ngo Alisha Filmer #MMC #modernmethodsofconstruction #prefabricatedbuildings #offsiteconstruction #industrialisedconstruction #industrialisedbuilding #modularconstruction #modularbuilding #betterbuildingfaster #housinginnovation #HomesNSW #SocialHousingInnovation

PARTNER ANNOUNCEMENT | We’re pleased to welcome WEB3IN TECH-LAB as a new project partner. This tech start up is dedicated to exploring and advancing the use of Web3 technologies, specialising in decentralised applications and blockchain solutions. Their mission is to empower innovation and streamline the integration of Web3 into various industries, fostering growth and collaboration across sectors. The Web3in Tech-Lab team are working with Hui Cui and Muhammad Aamir Cheema on Project #105, which is exploring how blockchain technology can enable direct energy trading between households and buildings. It’s another project contributing to sustainable and affordable housing. Check out the project: https://lnkd.in/g2CP2Ccr #blockchain #energyefficient #sustainablebuildings #affordablehousing 

WEEKEND READ  2024 has been a year of action for Building 4.0 CRC, as we focused on tackling the big issues – increasing housing supply, improving sustainability and growing industry capacity through skills and education: - We launched another 14 projects, including our most significant research project – a research and development project with Homes NSW that leverages modern methods of construction to build more quality social housing faster and more efficiently. - 23 exhibitors at our Housing Innovation Showcase in June highlighted new materials, designs, products, processes, platforms and technologies that accelerate construction timelines, enhance safety and improve sustainability outcomes.  - The third Annual Conference – Making it Happen – brought together 8 international speakers, 18 expert panellists and 230 delegates who explored the industry’s most pressing challenges and opportunities. Read about all our achievements in the 2024 annual report: https://lnkd.in/g-bEzibc Mathew Aitchison Chris Knapp Tuan Ngo Duncan Maxwell Sara Omrani Claire O'Leary #housingaffordability #modernmethodsofconstruction #mmc #sustainablebuildings

PROJECT LAUNCH | Project #105 Blockchain-powered peer-to-peer energy trading is exploring how blockchain technology can enable direct energy trading between households and buildings. Traditional energy markets are characterised by centralised grids, high operational costs, limited transparency and limited flexibility in integrating renewable energy sources. This centralised model gives residential customers little control over their energy choices and pricing. It also hampers smart, interconnected living environments that can share energy resources. Blockchain technology has the potential to support a framework that enables secure and efficient peer-to-peer energy trading among households and building, which in turn can help create smart, interconnected, and sustainable living environments. Monash University researchers Hui Cui and Muhammad Aamir Cheema will be working with industry partner WEB3IN TECH-LAB, a company that specialises in generating digital tokens that represent real-world assets, so users can track, trade and verify energy assets. #blockchain #energyefficient #sustainablebuildings #affordablehousing 

We welcomed Prof. Benjamin Rubinstein to the Board at the AGM last week. Prof. Rubinstein is Deputy Dean (Research) and Professor in AI Safety at the University of Melbourne. His areas of interest are machine learning, particularly security and privacy implications of AI. He currently co-leads the CATCH MURI, a team of 16 experts across 7 US and Australian universities exploring robust human–AI teams for cybersecurity. He has been part of teams that worked on cybersecurity issues for organisations such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics, National Australia Bank, Transport for NSW, Facebook Meta, Firefox and Medicare. Before joining the University of Melbourne in 2013, he spent 4 years in industry research labs, including Microsoft Research Silicon Valley and IBM Research Australia, and received his PhD (Computer Science) from University of California, Berkeley in 2010. Prof. Rubinstein joins the Board as a representative of our Tier 1 partners. We value the contribution he will make to Building 4.0 CRC. 

This new handbook — a collaboration between the Australian Building Codes Board and Building 4.0 CRC — provides valuable guidance on how to use #ModernMethodsofConstruction safely, sustainably and in compliance with the NCC.