[kettal]

Manchester UK. MOHO Flats "With architects Shed KM, Joule designed the prefabricated modular apartment building of 7 storeys. "


UB1 in Melbourne uses a patented method for prefabricated architecture called Unitized Building.

Leonard Avenue, near West Toronto Hospital. A former hospital building converted to social housing. In 2005, 26 new modular units were added to the roof.

 

[cfloryan]

Modular housing's pretty ugly in general. I's like to see minimal use of it.

 

[kettal]

Is MOHO any uglier than traditional-built apartments? I say no.

 

[Jayomatic]

I stayed at the Citizen M hotel in Amsterdam last summer and it's a brilliant example of prefab. Really interesting exterior. I'd love to see a condo use this type of construction in the near future.

 

[urbandreamer]

My dream home: a trailer in the woods of Virginia.

 

[adma]

Is MOHO any uglier than traditional-built apartments? I say no.

I'm not sure if it's a matter of raw ugliness w/prefab, so much as an uncertainty re long-term endurance: systems-building has had a record of enduring poorly...

 

[Northern Light]

Time to excavate this thread.

Things are suddenly more interesting in the pre-fab space.
Mattamy is going to build its own pre-fab housing factory in the GTA.

Mattamy Homes founder Peter Gilgan to start prefab housing factory in Ontario

The billionaire developer believes construction timelines can be cut to less than six months, down from as much as three years

www.theglobeandmail.com

The operation will be set-up as a free standing company under the name Stelumar.
But it is clearly being built by and for Mattamy, who will be its customer.

That's key. @AlvinofDiaspar was discussing just the other day that a key barrier to pre-fab living up to its promise is the need to scale.
Here, Peter Gilgan the owner/boss of Mattamy is setting up that very thing. A clear plan to deliver 3,000 units per year, a majority of that, at least initially right into Mattamy's own pipeline, though ultimately the new business would sell to competitors.

Currently the business is settling on the land for the new factory, which will employ 300 when its up to full production.

Of note here, is that the initial focus will not single family homes et al., but rather, six-storey, multi-family housing.

From the above:

and ****

While Mattamy is focused on applying this to condos.............there is no reason it can't be done for Purpose-built rental and by extension co-op/public housing.

@ProjectEnd will be taken by the idea of 700ft2 1 bedrooms, as am I.

There's lots to like here.

Now, can they deliver? Stay tuned.

 

[Sauga89]

Here is the press release and company website. I don't see much which isn't already in the article.

A clear plan to deliver 3,000 units per year, a majority of that, at least initially right into Mattamy's own pipeline,

LinkedIn says their offices are at Bloor/Islington, which is the same location as Mattamy's Etobicoke design office.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Time to excavate this thread.

Things are suddenly more interesting in the pre-fab space.
Mattamy is going to build its own pre-fab housing factory in the GTA.

Mattamy Homes founder Peter Gilgan to start prefab housing factory in Ontario

The billionaire developer believes construction timelines can be cut to less than six months, down from as much as three years

www.theglobeandmail.com

The operation will be set-up as a free standing company under the name Stelumar.
But it is clearly being built by and for Mattamy, who will be its customer.

That's key. @AlvinofDiaspar was discussing just the other day that a key barrier to pre-fab living up to its promise is the need to scale.
Here, Peter Gilgan the owner/boss of Mattamy is setting up that very thing. A clear plan to deliver 3,000 units per year, a majority of that, at least initially right into Mattamy's own pipeline, though ultimately the new business would sell to competitors.

Currently the business is settling on the land for the new factory, which will employ 300 when its up to full production.

Of note here, is that the initial focus will not single family homes et al., but rather, six-storey, multi-family housing.

From the above:

View attachment 657643

and ****

View attachment 657644

While Mattamy is focused on applying this to condos.............there is no reason it can't be done for Purpose-built rental and by extension co-op/public housing.

@ProjectEnd will be taken by the idea of 700ft2 1 bedrooms, as am I.

There's lots to like here.

Now, can they deliver? Stay tuned.

What you also need is more or less a set of standard templates for mid-rises to further reduce the cost as well. That, and perhaps large scale "housing estate" type of development that is common elsewhere but relatively rare in Canada.

AoD

 

[ProjectEnd]

It is cool, and there is some future there, but it's also been tried before without success. EllisDon - perhaps the largest constructor in the country - set up a modular factory back in 2020 only to close it two years later due to lack of business. I was fortunate enough to tour it in 2021 and they certainly didn't skimp on outfitting the facility:

Street View · Google Maps

Explore a place in a more immersive way in Google Maps.

www.google.com

Here is the press release and company website. I don't see much which isn't already in the article.

LinkedIn says their offices are at Bloor/Islington, which is the same location as Mattamy's Etobicoke design office.

That is Mattamy's main urban office. Low rise is up in Vaughan / Concord.

 

[Northern Light]

It is cool, and there is some future there, but it's also been tried before without success. EllisDon - perhaps the largest constructor in the country - set up a modular factory back in 2020 only to close it two years later due to lack of business. I was fortunate enough to tour it in 2021 and they certainly didn't skimp on outfitting the facility:

I'd be interested to know what types of pre-fab it was set up for.............

I'd also be curious as to what the business model was...........clearly Mattamy is setting this up with themselves as the customer, and the nature of the company is that they self-generate a pipeline.

I think of Ellis-Don as a third party GC more than its own builder.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I'd be interested to know what types of pre-fab it was set up for.............

I'd also be curious as to what the business model was...........clearly Mattamy is setting this up with themselves as the customer, and the nature of the company is that they self-generate a pipeline.

I think of Ellis-Don as a third party GC more than its own builder.

Yep, it strikes me as odd that Ellis Don would do it. It sounds like something you need vertical integration for (so larger developers, perhaps some kind of non-profit alliance).

AoD

 

[Sauga89]

What you also need is more or less a set of standard templates for mid-rises to further reduce the cost as well. That, and perhaps large scale "housing estate" type of development that is common elsewhere but relatively rare in Canada.

AoD

A quick look at Mattamy's list of projects on UT doesn't show any 6 storey buildings in pre-construction, so I'm not seeing any immediate projects they could use this for.

 

[Northern Light]

A quick look at Mattamy's list of projects on UT doesn't show any 6 storey buildings in pre-construction, so I'm not seeing any immediate projects they could use this for.

The have yet to stand up the factory, indeed, they haven't yet bought the land for it, though they have something in mind.

I expect the factory will be stood up in Q4 next year or thereabouts.

The goal will be to have projects ready for Q2 2027.

Six storeys will be as-of-right.

With a standard design, they should be able to go from sales to occupancy in 12 months (assuming the market is there)

They'll have some sites in inventory now.

I imagine we'll hear about them late this year or early next.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

You do have to wonder what it will do to the resell condo market - if the 20% cost saving (nevermind for a bigger space) is transferred to the buyer.

AoD