Coal Seam Gas Boom Likely to Cause Another Housing Affordability Blowout?

It is well documented that the resources sector can place undue stress on the property sector in many regional, rural and remote areas of Australia. National housing affordability statistics can be skewed.

At stake is the most fundamental of human needs … somewhere to live.

The Coal Seam Gas boom in Queensland and the resultant influx of workers to the Surat Basin and Central Queensland over the next few years will, without doubt, add to both housing availability and affordability in those areas.

Speaking at the Coal Seam Gas conference in Brisbane’s Sofitel Hotel next Tuesday, Greg Quinn, Managing Director of Hutchinson Builders will address the issue of housing a workforce in regional, rural and remote Australia and will use the experiences of Hutchinson Builders in housing their own workforce to explore possible solutions to the looming problem in the Surat Basin and beyond.

There is little doubt in my mind that emerging modular construction design and installation techniques will provide solutions for emerging housing affordability issues in Australia said Mr Quinn.

To comfortably accommodate and, most importantly retain team members on our own projects, we needed to look closely at what was available, what the modular accommodation industry had to offer, what it was doing well, and where improvements might be made, said Greg.

Our subsequent research led us to the strategic decision to establish our own modular construction division providing innovative design, construction, manufacture, installation and commissioning as well as on-going maintenance and facilities management services for a diverse range of modular construction markets, he added.

The response from our clients thus far has vindicated our decision to provide a full service solution, Greg added. We have worked closely with BMA (Australia’s largest coal miner and exporter, and the world's largest supplier to the seaborne coking coal market) to explore their needs and to provide them with, solutions. Hutchinson Builders has produced a cost-effective, innovative mining camp solution that is designed to extend the life cycle of the product, provide cost effective outcomes and to dramatically increase worker retention.

And the solutions are now being extended to student accommodation, prisons, aged care, hospitals and many other commercial applications.

When asked to comment on the recently completed Australian National University modular student accommodation project, Keith Walker, Manager Facilities Operations at the University, said that Hutchinson Builders, from the outset, was fully committed to the project and this commitment never waivered, he said.

They established a talented design team who brought up-to-date skills to the project and who were exceptional at listening to, and interpreting, the needs and expectations of The Australian National University.

Whilst completing the building two weeks ahead of time and on budget they also provided a facility which met the ANU’s stringent environmental performance requirements and in some cases comprehensively exceeded a number of the BCA requirements such as the noise transmission between individual rooms and the thermal performance of the rooms, Keith added.

Hutchinson Builders was attentive to the expectations of the ANU community and responsive when needs arose to minimise the impact of the construction project on the day-to-day life of the Campus, he said.

Mr Walker invited interested parties to view details of the ANU project at the ANU web site as follows:

Further details on Hutchinson Builders can be found at;

Contact and more information
Alan Tayt
Hutchinson Builders
0427 026 001
(07) 3335 5077
atayt@hutchinsonbuilders.com.au