Please turn your device to portrait.
New legislation defines prefabricated buildings and embeds them in mainstream delivery pathways.
New South Wales is set to formally bring prefabricated construction into its planning and approvals system, as the Minns Government introduces legislation aimed at reducing duplication, accelerating delivery and lifting confidence in modern methods of construction. (main image: One of three modular social homes delivered in Shellharbour using Modern Methods of Construction, manufactured offsite by Moov Modular as part of the NSW social housing rollout. Credit all images Homes NSW.)
The Building (Approvals and Practitioners) Bill 2026 proposes, for the first time in Australia, to define prefabricated buildings in law and integrate them directly into the approvals pathway. That move signals a shift away from treating modular and offsite systems as exceptions, and towards embedding them within mainstream housing delivery frameworks.
Integrating modular into the approvals system
The changes come as governments look to industrialised construction to address housing supply constraints. Estimates cited alongside the reforms suggest modern methods can reduce costs by up to 20 per cent and cut build times by as much as half compared with traditional approaches.
For developers and manufacturers, the more immediate impact may lie in how projects are assessed. The Bill consolidates what has been a fragmented approvals system into a single legislative structure, with staged approvals allowing construction to begin earlier and proceed in parallel with remaining sign-offs.
That staging aligns with how offsite construction operates, where design, manufacture and site works often overlap rather than follow a linear sequence. The legislation also allows minor variations to approved designs to be processed within the same framework, reducing the need for repeated submissions.
Reducing duplication and tightening oversight
Cost savings are expected to follow. The Government estimates that eliminating duplicated design requirements alone could save around $330,000 per apartment project. For modular builders, where repeatable components sit at the core of the business model, that reduction in rework has direct implications for viability at scale.
Alongside efficiency measures, the Bill strengthens oversight of the certification process. Maximum penalties for breaches of conflict-of-interest rules would increase significantly, with clearer tests introduced to determine when certifiers must step away from a project.
The combination of regulatory clarity and enforcement is intended to address one of the sector’s persistent barriers: confidence. While offsite construction has advanced technically, uncertainty around approvals, compliance and certification has often slowed adoption.
Rose Jackson said the reforms will “remove barriers to prefabricated and modular housing without compromising building quality, allowing more people to take advantage of the benefits of modern methods of construction.”
By aligning the approvals system more closely with manufacturing-led construction, the reforms attempt to remove that friction. The inclusion of a digital approvals environment and a single “source of truth” for documentation further reflects a shift towards model-based delivery, where coordination sits upstream of site activity.
The legislation now moves to Parliament, where its passage would position New South Wales as the first jurisdiction in Australia to formally integrate prefabricated construction into its statutory building framework.
