Prefabricated housing is set to become more common, and that will help boost housing supply, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment says.

New regulations to support the Government’s new modular component, or prefab, manufacturer scheme were announced on Wednesday.

The scheme, which was part of changes made to the Building Act last year, allowed prefab manufacturers to be certified to produce their products. Once certified, they had a streamlined consenting process and fewer inspection requirements.

Ministry manager building policy Amy Moorhead said this would enable faster consenting for innovative, efficient building methods, and increase the use of offsite and prefab manufacturing and products.

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“Offsite manufacturing construction methods can deliver precise, repeatable and consistent construction and lead to higher quality products,” Moorhead said.

The new scheme could lift productivity, improve quality and be environmentally friendlier, she said.

The ministry (MBIE) would be responsible for overseeing the new scheme, supported by changes to the product certification scheme, CodeMark.

Moorhead said CodeMark helped manufacturers demonstrate that new and innovative building products complied with the Building Code.

“These changes are vital to building innovation and are expected to improve confidence in CodeMark” and speed up the consenting process, she said.

MBIE would also have the ability to investigate product certification bodies and product certificates and suspend or revoke registration.

The new regulations provided important detail on how all the changes to the building act would work in practice to help the sector prepare, Moorhead said.

They come into force on September 7, and prefab manufacturers could apply to be certified once an accredited certification body was in place. Certification bodies could apply to be accredited and registered from September.

Greater use of prefab technology and products has long been touted as a way to address the housing shortage.

A 2019 report by international management consultancy McKinsey & Company estimated that offsite manufacturing methods could speed up construction by 50 per cent and reduce costs by 20 per cent on a global scale.

There has been some resistance. In 2020, Auckland Council told MBIE it was opposed to the streamlining of prefab housing, and said it had concerns about quality and liability falling on ratepayers.

Local Government New Zealand also expressed concerns in a submission to MBIE.

But the changes allowing the scheme became law last year, and Building and Construction Minister Poto Williams said they would help speed up the supply of housing without compromising on the quality of the homes needed.

The new regulations also included details on new building product information requirements that come into force in December next year.

Moorhead said they required that a minimum level of information about building products be made publicly available. This included how a product contributed to compliance with the Building Code and how it should be used.

“Providing additional information about building products will support the sector to make informed decisions about using alternative products.”