Off Site Manufacture and Energy Efficient Homes

Offsite NZ held its Annual Colab over two days in Auckland in June. This is one of my favorite conferences. Here is why.

This is a space that holds so much potential for innovation that is continuously growing. Scott Fisher and Jessica Gray alone are Offsite NZ along with the Offsite Board who volunteer their time. This organization's commitment to creating a space that is safe to fail leads to attracting professionals from all through the Design and Build Process who are seeking innovative solutions. The space for interaction, learning about what others offer, and creating collaborations is there.

Gerry McCaughey from Offsite LLC was the keynote and spoke from his 35 years experience

“It's about process optimization, not product.”

While I smiled during his comment about Architects and Architectural Designers' inaccurate drawings and the verify on-site note we all have on our drawings, I reassured myself that this is the reason why I am here.

As a Passive House Designer, Homestar Designer and Assessor, and Architectural Designer, if I can understand this offsite industry more, I can use it together with my skills to offer better design solutions to everyday New Zealanders. I cannot do it alone of course, but I feel that the good and healthy design intentions and principles have the potential to be realized with quality in this space.  

My takeaway from this was that Offsite has the potential to deliver more homes into the New Zealand market but if care is not taken to design healthy quality homes, it has the potential to quickly exaggerate the current problem with minimum code-compliant buildings which aren’t necessarily healthy homes. And with quickly increasing building code thresholds, we run the risk of creating new homes that quickly become below our minimum code standards.

If we focus too much on quickly delivering a product, rather than optimizing the process, we run the risk of not considering the fit for purpose and quality of that product. Speed and quality have always been balancing acts that need careful attention.

My hope is that we take this amazing opportunity to do things better whilst optimizing on efficiencies that modern technology and thinking make available to us.

As offsite manufacture relies heavily on an intensive and collaborative design process before building, this process lends itself well to investing in Passive House Design and Homestar and Greenstar-aligned projects. This uses the design process efficiently because both require careful consideration for site-specific and well-conceived solutions before the building process can begin.

If we can overcome the challenges of perception in the process, we can optimize how we design and create buildings to deliver a far more premium product.

But it needs teamwork, understanding,  and collaboration.

Offsite isn’t just the factory that produces the product, it's the people and processes behind it.