South Australia’s Office for Regional Housing will launch a $2.15-million pilot project this year to test modular transportable homes as accommodation for essential workers in remote areas.
The state government trial is being set up in response to housing supply shortages affecting small rural communities struggling to attract construction workers.
State director of the office for regional housing Matt Hunt said solving this issue in regional areas required innovative and efficient construction methods.
“There have been vast improvements in the quality and design of modular transportable homes in recent years, and we think they can offer a viable solution in communities crying out for worker housing, that struggle to find builders to provide it,” Hunt said.
The homes would be prefabricated in factory environments over three to six months, constructed as compact modules for safe transport and onsite assembly.
This would reduce build time by up to 20 per cent compared with traditional construction methods while requiring significantly fewer tradespeople onsite.
The trial would initially establish a display village in metropolitan Adelaide for inspection by stakeholders interested in leasing, owning, funding or approving modular housing.
Following the display phase, homes would be relocated to regional locations for teachers, police, healthcare and other key service workers in smaller towns.
“By creating a centralised display village, we hope to provide an opportunity for housing investors and worker agencies to inspect and hopefully abandon any misconceptions they may have of modular housing,” Hunt said.
The display village would open between late 2025 and early 2026.
Hunt’s long-term vision involves demonstrating viability to the private sector for establishing substantial modular housing capability within South Australia, supported by consistent investor demand.
“Multiple local, interstate and international manufacturers are developing high-quality, multi-module, transportable housing solutions,” he said.
“Many of these potential suppliers have approached the state government expressing a strong desire to establish or expand their presence in the South Australian market.”
Renewal SA would form a panel of pre-approved modular housing suppliers to accelerate delivery timeframes.
The panel would remove lengthy procurement processes, reducing time between identifying housing needs and home delivery.
The Federal Government allocated $54 million over four years in the 2025-2026 Budget to increase prefabricated and modular housing supply and adoption, including $49.3 million over two years supporting states and territories scaling existing projects.
The Office for Regional Housing has completed 24 two and three-bedroom homes across Copper Coast, Riverland, Mount Gambier and Port Augusta since early 2024 under the Regional Key Worker Housing Scheme, with six more under construction at Ceduna.
These homes accommodate healthcare, law enforcement and education workers and would be sold to private markets with guaranteed 10-year state government rental agreements.
Innovative construction methods are already being tested at Ceduna, where four homes near completion use structural insulated panels made in Perth by Australian firm SipForm.
These panels replace frames, external cladding and internal lining and insulation in one integrated product, potentially progressing houses from slab to lockup within a fortnight.
Another project attempting to prove modular construction at scale is Freecity’s $300-million student accommodation development in Macquarie Park, which would become Australia’s tallest volumetric modular construction project at 20 storeys.
The Cox Architecture-designed development comprises 528 single-occupancy units made as complete modules in offshore factories before transport and assembly onsite.
