Press

Construction Revolution Named Top 25 Finalist for Ivory Prize

“The Ivory Prize recognizes innovators seeking to make housing more affordable across three distinct categories: finance, construction and design, and public policy and regulatory reform. The Prize is focused on applicants with ambitious, feasible, and scalable solutions to housing affordability. The Top 25 were selected by the Ivory Prize’s Advisory Board, which is comprised of some of the top minds in housing across the U.S.”

The Construction Revolution is a cross-sector collaboration to reduce the cost of housing by creating an innovation hub based in Minnesota to support the effective use of off-site construction techniques.

Mary Tingerthal Sets Ambitious Goal in Star Tribune Feature

“With the cost of producing homes “rising relentlessly,” modular and panelized construction techniques have the potential to lower building costs by as much as 20%, Tingerthal said, citing numerous studies. That would reduce the cost of a two-bedroom multifamily unit to $160,000 from the $200,000 the task force report cited.”

That’s a level of cost saving that I just can’t walk away from as a former public official, as a person who thinks about how can you get more affordable housing, how can you get more housing period for the same dollars… I would like to see at least 10% of the multifamily residential construction being done as modular five years from now. The penetration level in the U.S. for modular in multifamily is 3%. 

Interest in Offsite Construction is Building

“Seems like the obvious answer, doesn’t it?” said T.G. Jayanth, an expert in capital projects with McKinsey & Company. He was among the attendees at a recent Minneapolis conference that focused on modular and other innovative construction methods. Jayanth said more investors are starting to believe it’s worth building more factories to turn out housing. That’s a prerequisite for modular construction to really take off.

“The industry as a whole and the people who finance construction tend to want to see that something works before they put money behind it, which is understandable,” he said. “It’s not quite there. It doesn’t have the critical mass where investors are jumping in but we may be very close to that point.”

Offsite Construction Offers Potential Savings for Building Affordable Housing

According to former Minnesota Housing Commissioner Mary Tingerthal, construction projects at various sites around the country are starting to use offsite building techniques. She explains why she believes use of these techniques has the potential to increase the number of affordable housing units that can be built for the same number of dollars by bringing down the cost of construction.

Opus Design Build CEO Cites Modular as Key Innovation Goal

“We want to continue driving the business toward being really responsive to our customers’ goals. And while staying focused on their goals, we want to continue to become more innovative and more efficient at delivering their construction solutions. You know, whether that means new technology, new techniques, such as modular construction, things like that, continue just to deliver the value, to continue to be more effective, more efficient and to continue doing it with safety as our No. 1 priority.”

Minnesota Multi-Housing Association President Highlights Offsite Construction as Part of Solution for Affordable Housing Crisis

Cecil Smith said one solution would be a local factory creating modular affordable housing. Prefabricated apartment units in California and Idaho are bypassing conventional construction sites to tackle the affordable housing crisis he said.

“Passing an ordinance is nice, but those folks need housing and they need affordable housing for the long term — and we need to build it for them.”