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Insurer backs modular construction to accelerate disaster recovery and support innovation.
Insurance Australia Group (IAG) has taken a strategic stake in Melbourne-based modular building company Spacecube, backing the company’s ability to rapidly deploy temporary accommodation and community infrastructure following natural disasters while supporting the continued development of its modular building platform. (main pic: Spacecube’s two bedroom modular Rapid Deployment Accommodation built in two days.)
The $3 million investment, made through IAG’s venture capital arm Firemark Ventures, follows successful deployments of Spacecube accommodation after Victorian bushfires earlier this year, allowing displaced families to remain on their properties while permanent homes were rebuilt.
For Spacecube Chief Executive Officer Mark Davies, the investment represents far more than a new customer relationship.
“They’re actually investing in the journey of Spacecube,” Davies told Built Offsite. “But more importantly, they’re supporting Spacecube innovation and how we continue the R&D that makes us better.”
Davies said Australia faces not only a housing shortage, but also a need for greater innovation in manufacturing.
“One of the things we’re starved of is genuine innovation. Too often, the focus is on replicating existing modular products or taking the easiest pathway. What we need is genuine research and development to solve these challenges.”
Interior of Spacecube’s two-bedroom Rapid Deployment Accommodation, designed to provide fully self-contained temporary housing that can be deployed within days following natural disasters.
Modular construction offers a faster disaster response
Although Spacecube has delivered modular infrastructure for major events, healthcare, commercial projects and hospitality, Davies believes disaster recovery is becoming one of the company’s most significant opportunities.
“It’s absolutely about insurance,” he said.
“We’ve got a significant issue right now in the Western world, not just Australia. Whether it be a housing crisis or a climate change crisis, it’s not just Australia, it’s the Western world.”
He said increasing disaster frequency, combined with ongoing housing shortages, is creating mounting pressure on insurers, governments and communities.
“If we lose 500 homes in a disaster, the first element is the people affected. The secondary element is the community, but the third element is the economic impact.”
“And if we’re in a housing crisis and we’re struggling to keep up with the number of homes we should be building, if 500 homes have just been destroyed, how do we add that to the list that now needs to be rebuilt?”
Rather than manufacturing accommodation only after a disaster occurs, Spacecube is drawing on an existing fleet of modular structures that can be rapidly converted into temporary housing.
“What we’re trying to change is the thinking. We’ve got a large asset pool that we’ve fitted out for all manner of reasons, from commercial use to events.”
“How do we actually turn them into housing in a matter of days and keep people on their land? We genuinely believe recovery starts at home.”
Davies said several homes deployed after the Victorian bushfires were built using structures that had previously been used at the Australian Open and Melbourne Cup.
“The structure that was used was the same structure that was used at the Australian Open or at the Melbourne Cup in the Birdcage. That’s the reuse we’ve been talking about. There’s a smarter way to build.”
From alternative building method to essential infrastructure
Davies believes the partnership signals a broader shift in how institutional organisations are beginning to view modular construction.
“It’s not an alternative building method,” he said. “It’s actually essential infrastructure.”
He argues that infrastructure must increasingly be designed to adapt as communities, industries and technologies evolve.
“We’re living in a world that’s just moving so fast. The definition of what we used to call permanence is changing.”
“We need to be thinking about how structures get reused.”
Pointing to the rebuilding effort following the Los Angeles wildfires, Davies noted that only a fraction of destroyed homes had been reconstructed after a year.
“After 12 months, they’ve rebuilt fewer than 12 of them.”
Partnership has global potential
While the initial focus remains Australia and New Zealand, Davies sees significant opportunities to expand the model internationally.
Davies believes the partnership extends well beyond a single investment, positioning Spacecube to play a larger role in disaster recovery and resilience. He said the company’s ambition is to become the preferred provider for insurable events, supplying rapidly deployable temporary accommodation, essential community infrastructure and commercial facilities following natural disasters.
“But then also how does that extend even further past IAG’s boundaries of Australia and New Zealand?” he said. “How do we start to resolve that globally?”
He also believes IAG’s investment reflects a broader shift in how major organisations are viewing modular construction.
“It’s not an alternative building method,” he said. “It’s actually essential infrastructure.”
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