Prefabricated Secondary Units for Overcoming the Shortage of Houses: A Case Study of New Zealand
Year: 2019
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: This paper focuses on providing affordable houses in the form of prefabricated Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) for the changing demographics of New Zealand.The goal is also to use the existing urban infrastructure.Following global trends, the New Zealand population is growing but at the same time household size is falling with an ageing population, leading to a shortage of both numbers of and suitably sized houses to allow people to age in place in their existing communities.There is thus a need for a method of construction that can deliver more houses in a shorter time.Prefabrication is potentially faster, cheaper, and more efficient in comparison with traditional methods.Putting more dwellings in the form of small, prefabricated ADUs on the large plots of existing houses could potentially accommodate more people in urban areas.As a start in testing the feasibility of this idea, this paper discusses data collected from existing off-site manufacturers in New Zealand to give a better understanding of where they are located and what they offer.It then investigates the transportation rules of New Zealand and the rules of the 71 councils of New Zealand related to constructing ADUs, in order to better understand what could be mass produced that would best meet the criteria for ADUs in council areas with the most need.These parameters lead to the design of a series of ADUs that could help overcome the shortage of appropriate houses in New Zealand.The paper ends by presenting and discussing the proposed designs.
Source: ICE Publishing eBooks
Institution: Victoria University of Wellington
Language: English
Subfield: Building and Construction
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W2964513746