Reshaping housing using prefabricated systems

Prefabricated housing innovations have the potential to reduce the environmental impact of construction through improvements to efficiency and quality. The current paper presents a number of recommendations for increasing the adoption of prefabrication based on a review of published evidence. The recommendations consider multiple stakeholders including builders and other intermediaries, suppliers, end-users, as well as their interaction with the broader policy context and technical issues

Reshaping housing : the role of prefabricated systems

Prefabricated housing innovations have the potential to reduce the environmental impact of construction through improving efficiency and quality. The current paper systematically summarises the published evidence since 1990 that describes the barriers and drivers affecting the uptake of prefabricated housing innovations. These are discussed in relation to a ‘Project-Based Product Framework’ which considers multiple stakeholders including builders and other intermediaries, suppliers, end-users, the broader policy context and technical issues. The framework facilitated identification of central issues such as the prevalent business and cultural resistance associated with process changes; the potential for efficiency and quality improvements and cost savings; the simultaneous risks and benefits of close supplier-builder relationships, and negative user perceptions towards prefabricated houses. Though there is a lack of evidence regarding the effects of regulations and government policies on prefabrication uptake, there are indications of the positive potential of financial and social incentives. Directions for further research include understanding how to: manage the industry’s transition to prefabricated houses; appropriately compare prefabricated housing to traditional housing on cost, efficiency and quality measures; reconcile the differing perspectives of various stakeholders; quantify and identify the perspectives of the potential end-user population, and manage the interface between the emerging industry and information technology improvements.

A genealogy of the problematic of homelessness and the homeless in Australia

The homeless have been subject to considerable scrutiny, historically and within current social, political and public discourse. The aetiology of homelessness has been the focus of a large body of economic, sociological, historical and political investigation. Importantly, efforts to conceptualise, explain and measure, the phenomenon of homelessness and homeless people has occurred largely within the context of defining “the problem of the homeless” and the generation of solutions to the ‘problem’. There has been little consideration of how and why homelessness has come to be seen, or understood, as a problem, or how this can change across time and/or place. This alternative stream of research has focused on tracing and analysing the relationship between how people experiencing homeless have become a matter of government concern and the manner in which homelessness itself has been problematised. With this in mind this study has analysed the discourses - political, social and economic rationalities and knowledges - which have provided the conditions of possibility for the identification of the homeless and homelessness as a problem needing to be governed and the means for translating these discourses into the applied domain. The aim of this thesis has been to contribute to current knowledge by developing a genealogy of the conditions and rationalities that have underpinned the problematisation of homelessness and the homeless. The outcome of this analysis has been to open up the opportunity to consider alternative governmental possibilities arising from the exposure of the way in which contemporary problematisation and responses have been influenced by the past. An understanding of this process creates an ability to appreciate the intended and unintended consequences for the future direction of public policy and contemporary research.

Association between indoor air pollution measurements and respiratory health in women and children in Lao PDR

This article presents the results of a study on the association between measured air pollutants and the respiratory health of resident women and children in Lao PDR, one of the least developed countries in Southeast Asia. The study, commissioned by the World Health Organisation, included PM10, CO and NO2 measurements made inside 181 dwellings in nine districts within two provinces in Lao PDR over a 5- month period (12/05–04/06), and respiratory health information (via questionnaires and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) measurements) for all residents in the same dwellings. Adjusted odds ratios were calculated separately for each health outcome using binary logistic regression. There was a strong and consistent positive association between NO2 and CO for almost all questionnaire-based health outcomes for both women and children. Women in dwellings with higher measured NO2 had more than triple of the odds of almost all of the health outcomes, and higher concentrations of NO2 and CO were significantly associated with lower PEFR. This study supports a growing literature confirming the role of indoor air pollution in the burden of respiratory disease in developing countries. The results will directly support changes in health and housing policy in Lao PDR.

Electronic Building Passport - Final Report: Project 2 National Energy Efficient Building Project Phase 2

The National Energy Efficient Building Project (NEEBP) Phase One report, published in December 2014, investigated “process issues and systemic failures” in the administration of the energy performance requirements in the National Construction Code. It found that most stakeholders believed that under-compliance with these requirements is widespread across Australia, with similar issues being reported in all states and territories. The report found that many different factors were contributing to this outcome and, as a result, many recommendations were offered that together would be expected to remedy the systemic issues reported. To follow up on this Phase 1 report, three additional projects were commissioned as part of Phase 2 of the overall NEEBP project. This Report deals with the development and piloting of an Electronic Building Passport (EBP) tool – a project undertaken jointly by pitt&sherry and a team at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) led by Dr Wendy Miller. The other Phase 2 projects cover audits of Class 1 buildings and issues relating to building alterations and additions. The passport concept aims to provide all stakeholders with (controlled) access to the key documentation and information that they need to verify the energy performance of buildings. This trial project deals with residential buildings but in principle could apply to any building type. Nine councils were recruited to help develop and test a pilot electronic building passport tool. The participation of these councils – across all states – enabled an assessment of the extent to which these councils are currently utilising documentation; to track the compliance of residential buildings with the energy performance requirements in the National Construction Code (NCC). Overall we found that none of the participating councils are currently compiling all of the energy performance-related documentation that would demonstrate code compliance. The key reasons for this include: a major lack of clarity on precisely what documentation should be collected; cost and budget pressures; low public/stakeholder demand for the documentation; and a pragmatic judgement that non-compliance with any regulated documentation requirements represents a relatively low risk for them. Some councils reported producing documentation, such as certificates of final completion, only on demand, for example. Only three of the nine council participants reported regularly conducting compliance assessments or audits utilising this documentation and/or inspections. Overall we formed the view that documentation and information tracking processes operating within the building standards and compliance system are not working to assure compliance with the Code’s energy performance requirements. In other words the Code, and its implementation under state and territory regulatory processes, is falling short as a ‘quality assurance’ system for consumers. As a result it is likely that the new housing stock is under-performing relative to policy expectations, consuming unnecessary amounts of energy, imposing unnecessarily high energy bills on occupants, and generating unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, Councils noted that the demand for documentation relating to building energy performance was low. All the participant councils in the EBP pilot agreed that documentation and information processes need to work more effectively if the potential regulatory and market drivers towards energy efficient homes are to be harnessed. These findings are fully consistent with the Phase 1 NEEBP report. It was also agreed that an EBP system could potentially play an important role in improving documentation and information processes. However, only one of the participant councils indicated that they might adopt such a system on a voluntary basis. The majority felt that such a system would only be taken up if it were: - A nationally agreed system, imposed as a mandatory requirement under state or national regulation; - Capable of being used by multiple parties including councils, private certifiers, building regulators, builders and energy assessors in particular; and - Fully integrated into their existing document management systems, or at least seamlessly compatible rather than a separate, unlinked tool. Further, we note that the value of an EBP in capturing statistical information relating to the energy performance of buildings would be much greater if an EBP were adopted on a nationally consistent basis. Councils were clear that a key impediment to the take up of an EBP system is that they are facing very considerable budget and staffing challenges. They report that they are often unable to meet all community demands from the resources available to them. Therefore they are unlikely to provide resources to support the roll out of an EBP system on a voluntary basis. Overall, we conclude from this pilot that the public good would be well served if the Australian, state and territory governments continued to develop and implement an Electronic Building Passport system in a cost-efficient and effective manner. This development should occur with detailed input from building regulators, the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB), councils and private certifiers in the first instance. This report provides a suite of recommendations (Section 7.2) designed to advance the development and guide the implementation of a national EBP system.