A South Australian startup is building one of the world’s most advanced prefabricated panel manufacturing facilities — and its founder says the housing crisis demands nothing less.

prefabAUS member JMB Modular Buildings has completed construction of its new Advanced Manufacturing Centre (AMC1) in Shepparton, marking a significant step forward in purpose-built modular manufacturing capability in regional Victoria.

In a market where imported SIPS panels arrive one at a time and builders remain deeply sceptical, an emerging Melbourne manufacturer is assembling complete wall sections in-factory and erecting entire homes in 48 hours — then daring the industry to look away.

With five resorts approved, a steel framing factory, an in-house building company, and solar microgrids powering hundreds of homes, Providence Lifestyle’s Brad Denison is demonstrating what happens when deep modular construction expertise meets vertically integrated development at scale.

In a remarkable convergence of policy activity, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria have each made landmark commitments to Modern Methods of Construction — removing longstanding barriers and confirming that prefabricated construction is now central to Australia’s housing policy agenda.

A builder who came in ‘kicking and screaming’ and a manufacturer with 13 years of pioneering experience have forged one of Victoria’s most productive partnerships in light gauge steel construction.

When physiotherapists Laura Stefani and Tom Hol decided to knock down and rebuild their family home in Heathcote in Sydney’s south, they wanted a fundamentally different approach to construction — one aligned with their values around sustainability, efficiency, and thoughtful design.

The Future of Housing Construction Centre of Excellence at Melbourne Polytechnic’s Heidelberg campus is a $50 million in Australia’s Smart Building workforce. Born from a convergence of industry vision and educational ambition, and anchored by a partnership between prefabAUS and one of the nation’s leading TAFE organisations, the Centre aims to become the engine room for a new generation of construction professionals.

The Queensland Government has demonstrated national leadership in construction industry reform, with the release on 21 January 2026 of its response to the Queensland Productivity Commission's Final Report on opportunities to improve productivity of the construction industry.