KiwiBuild announces opportunity for offsite manufacturers

KiwiBuild has today issued an Invitation To Participate (ITP) to offsite manufacturers of housing solutions to support the delivery of 100,000 new affordable homes over the next ten years.

Head of KiwiBuild Stephen Barclay says exploring opportunities that offsite manufacturing (OSM) could offer in terms of innovation and scale could drive a real step change in the availability, quality and cost of affordable housing.

“While the first KiwiBuild homes in Auckland are already on the market and we have deals with a number of developers around the country for hundreds more over the next 12 months alone, offsite manufacturing has long been identified as a potential game-changer.

“There is a real opportunity through KiwiBuild to leverage the procurement power of Government and drive productivity and performance gains in the residential housing sector through appropriate offsite manufacturing housing solutions,” says Mr Barclay.

The ITP is open to suppliers to present proposals for delivering modular homes. Proposals should be within the KiwiBuild parameters and include elements of design, manufacturing and assembly.

“When we look at the proposals, consistent quality will be a high priority alongside the other inherent benefits that OSM should offer, such as reduced construction costs and speed to market,” said Mr Barclay.

The procurement process initiated by this ITP is designed to be less prescriptive than traditional procurement processes and enables a high degree of interaction between KiwiBuild and respondents.

“If you combine our approach to this procurement process with the Government’s commitment to share risk and enable delivery, then I think we’ll see this ITP generate some really compelling, innovative, solutions-oriented proposals when it comes to offsite manufacturing, and we welcome that,” says Mr Barclay.

Responses to this ITP are due by 12 November, and shortlisted respondents will be invited to present to KiwiBuild’s evaluation panel in the first quarter of 2019. Following this, there will be a period of negotiation with successful respondents to work through terms of engagement, the duration of which will be determined by the scale and complexity of the proposal.

KiwiBuild is a Government initiative to accelerate the supply of affordable homes including 1000 homes by mid-2019, 5000 homes by June 2020 and 10,000 homes by June 2021.

The Invitation to Participate is open until 12 November 2018 at www.gets.govt.nz.

For more information please go to kiwibuild.govt.nz.

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