Steven Mann is the Chief Strategy Officer at Freecity Group, leading the company’s push to revolutionise Australian construction for Living Sector Assets through volumetric modular construction (VMC). With a background of 35 years in Property Funds Management and Development Industry, and most recently as the CEO of the Urban Development Institute of Australia, Steven brings deep insight into housing, urban development, and the systemic challenges facing the industry. At Freecity, he is spearheading projects such as Australia’s tallest modular PBSA building under construction and the worlds tallest BtR building in planning, aiming to prove that offsite manufacturing can deliver faster, higher-quality, and more sustainable outcomes at scale. We asked him some questions to better understand the Freecity strategy.

You’ve said, “We have to stop starting from scratch.” What does that mindset shift look like in practice for the Australian construction industry?

So far this Century we have seen dramatic reductions in productivity, so that we build an apartment building in Australia in virtually twice the time that it took 25 years ago. At the same time housing affordability has become out of reach for many Australian’s particularly our younger people, falling over 15% this century for the 25-34 years demographic to under 50% home ownership. It has been a perfect storm for our industry since COVID – supply chain delays, rapidly increasing construction costs and labour constraints all continuing to driving the affordability crisis, so solving the productivity conundrum for residential construction has to be priority No. One for government(s). What this means for industry, is that we have to work together to make housing better, faster and cheaper across the board and throughout the design, approval, supply chain and delivery process. Freecity is leading Volumetric Modular Construction (VMC) in Australia, given the inherent advantageous for improved time, cost and quality for high-rise Living Sector and Hotel assets. At the heart of modular design is repeatability to drive productivity and not at the expense of quality. We are constantly optimising design from one project to the next.

The Macquarie Park student accommodation project will be Australia’s tallest volumetric modular building — what makes it a “lighthouse moment” for modern methods of construction?

Freecity’s Herring Road PBSA development is a second generation VMC project in Australia, which has the benefits of learnings from the successful VMC development of a 252 room IBIS Hotel in Perth, which is the current largest VMC building in Australia at 17 levels and was delivered by executives at Freecity under previous employment. At 20 levels and 528 PBSA units, the Herring Road project is a much larger building. Moreover, Herring Road is one of the first buildings being delivered in NSW to meet the Design and Building Practitioners Act requirements for certification. The Herring Road project is designed by COX Architects and has a high quality facade, with a terracotta tile cladding and double glazed widows, which will deliver a striking building, which does not look modular in any way. Come to the Living Sector Conference and in my presentation you will see the breadth of design we can achieve for VMC.

Freecity talks a lot about quality over cost in modular construction. Can you explain why that’s central to your approach?

VMC is about higher quality and it’s about certainty, because a factory can produce a much more controlled and regular outcome than on-site. Freecity’s strategy to use VMC for the Living Sector market has created an alignment of interest between the Lessor and Lessee around the development and management of long-term successful communities. Better buildings based on ‘whole of life thinking’ are a ‘no brainer’ for long term owners, including less imbedded carbon, lower energy use, social responsibility and transparency in governance to build stakeholder confidence. The future resident will enjoy these benefits and for the younger demographic we need to supply a high quality flexible rental product in that decade or so when a young person leaves home, which is the new domain of the emerging Living Sector in Australia. So as you can see, cost is not the first thing to think about for VMC, but you will also benefit from time savings, which equals cost savings.

Internationally, modular construction adoption rates are far higher than in Australia. What’s holding us back, and how can the industry and government accelerate uptake?

There are cold climate countries in Europe that have predominantly used modular construction for decades, as they really have no choice. The more interesting developments are in the last decade or so where the USA, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc. are delivering high-rise residential modular buildings. The results have been mixed and the take up is not yet compelling, particularly when you look at manufacturing facilities, but more an more countries are looking for solutions to construction problems in modular, including Ireland, Canada and New Zealand. Here in Australia, someone has to prove VMC can work and it is worth the extra effort to develop the systems and procedures to get it right at scale.

Beyond student accommodation, where do you see the biggest opportunities for VMC in the “living sector” — and what will it take to scale these projects nationally?

The missing piece to solving the housing crisis in NSW is the steep decline in the supply of apartments, down two thirds from peak supply in 2018-19 and a reduction in the order of 25,000 units per annum. Detached housing and medium density cannot replace this gap sustainably, as there is not enough land and feasible sites. Those who are close to the supply numbers and understand the constraints, know that we have a multi-decade challenge to get on top of the undersupply each year and to eliminate the demand backlog, which requires even more apartments. The new Living Sector assets of Build-to-Rent (BtR) and Co-Living offer the housing diversity we need, new sources of capital for investment and significant value for revitalising urban centres as we focus more on contemporary Transport Oriented Development. Lose the car and have a lower carbon footprint, develop a healthier walk/ride life style and consolidate your costs for amenities into your weekly rent and you are coming out in-front, that is how we are Innovating Future Living at Freecity!

Steven will be joining us at the Living Sectors Summit this November and Freecity Group is also a valued event partner. View the brochure for details on his session and the full two-day agenda.