Robots programmed to speed up housing in Adelaide’s south
A housing development in Adelaide’s south is using robots in a bid to shave months off build times.
Edinburgh-based manufacturer 5North is working to cut construction time by manufacturing prefabricated house components, with the Premier saying new houses at Noarlunga will be the first to benefit.
Premier Peter Malinauskas and Housing Minister Nick Champion announced on Monday morning that the government is partnering with 5North to speed up housing builds with the “pioneering technology”.
The South Australian company manufactures wall panels up to 12 metres long, including framing, insulation, internal and external lining, windows and doors, with a suite of 14 robots made by German manufacturer KUKA.
RenewalSA’s Noarlunga development would use 5North’s prefabricated wall, floor and roof frame components to build two and three-bedroom townhouses within the affordable housing precinct.
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Its robot team members have been named. Scarfy and Sharon build frames, Jett, Wall-E, Marlin and Popeye are on fasteners, while routing and milling is executed by robots KB and Kaleb, and they also cut out the spaces for doors and windows.
While the smallest is a sheeting robot called Jack, who 5North says weighs “a casual 1.2 tonnes”.
Malinauskas was in Edinburgh for the announcement today where he said this “innovation” was about supporting builders and the industry “at a time of escalating demand and labour shortages”.
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Rather than being built on the construction site, the prefabricated panels are assembled by the robots across five automated stations at its 12,000-square-metre Edinburgh factory, which can produce components for about six standard houses each day.
Based on a 38-hour work week, the company claims the robots can produce panels for about 1000 homes a year, and because the manufacturing occurs alongside other site works, it would save build time.
If production is ramped up to a 24-hour operating model, it could build prefabricated parts for 3000 homes each year to meet demand, the company said.
5North Co-founder and chief executive officer Wayne Hughes said the company was “not trying to replace builders or skilled trades”.
“Australia needs more affordable housing, but the traditional site-based model is constrained by skilled labour shortages, fragmented processes and limited delivery capacity,” he said.
“5North has worked with international automation and offsite manufacturing partners, including KUKA and Waypaver, to adapt advanced capability for Australian residential construction.”
“We have set the ambitious target of seeing 13,500 homes built in South Australia year after year. This isn’t an arbitrary number. It’s the number of homes we need to see built for our state to reach its economic potential,” Malinauskas said.
“Meeting this target requires ingenuity, investment and partnership between government, developers, builders and suppliers.”
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