prefabAUS, the national peak body representing Australia's prefabricated and modular construction sector, is backing the creation of a Building Identification Number (BIN), a permanent, verified identifier for every building in Australia, modelled on the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) that has underpinned motor vehicle finance and insurance for decades. prefabAUS is undertaking a proactive, industry-led pilot to test the concept in practice, an initiative aimed at helping unlock more housing supply.
Most of a modular home is built off site, in a factory, well before any valuer or inspector ever sees it. The BIN creates the identifier to enable a chain of custody, verifying each stage of construction and aligning to milestones under the new prefabAUS Class 1 contract so manufacturers can receive progress payments during its construction in the factory.
The BIN concept was developed by Quipex, a company that has built a digital record that follows a building for its economic life, keeping track of all drawings, manuals, whether it meets safety standards, what maintenance it has had and what materials went into it. Quipex wants the BIN to work as an open standard that the whole industry can adopt, not something only Quipex owns and controls, because it is only useful if every lender, insurer, builder and regulator can trust it.
The BIN number is proposed to work in two stages. First, GS1 Australia, the organisation whose barcodes appear on almost every product sold in Australia, gives each building or modular component a scannable identity from the moment it starts being manufactured. Once the building is occupied, that number is linked to the address and location record the government already keeps for every building in Australi through Geoscape. Together, the two halves create one continuous, verifiable record for the life of the building, from factory floor to demolition.
Because the identifier is applied at the point of manufacture rather than at import or occupation, the same approach can equally be used to capture, and potentially verify, compliance standards for modular units built overseas before they reach an Australian site.
The broader BIN working group brings together representatives from across government, industry, research and the finance sector, including prefabAUS, Geoscape, GS1, Quipex, Commonwealth Bank, Better Living Group, Dulux, James Hardie and the RMIT Post Carbon Research Centre with further industry support anticipated. A live, fifty-home modular housing project currently underway in Victoria will provide an opportunity to test the concept in practice. RMIT University will study how well the pilot works, including how easy it is to trace materials, how well the BIN documents carbon emissions, and its potential to improve how the financing risks around modular delivery are managed. Those risks are real, and the state government in Tasmania has already had to step in with a state government guarantee.
While this particular project has not required bank funding, Commonwealth Bank is participating in the industry working group and exploring how a digital BIN could also support progress payment processes on commercial and multi-dwelling residential projects. Together with the recently launched prefabAUS Class 1 contract, this initiative is aimed at improving digital traceability, helping to streamline progress payments and enabling the continued growth of prefab construction.
"Modular and offsite construction is under constant pressure from lenders and insurers to prove what has actually been delivered and when. A verified building identifier is exactly what our industry needs, and prefabAUS is proud to be leading an industry-driven pilot to test how it works in practice," said Damien Crough, Co-founder and Executive Chairman, prefabAUS.
Quipex, which developed the underlying concept, says prefabAUS's leadership is proof the identifier is being built the right way.
"As Chair of Quipex, I see prefabAUS's leadership on this as exactly how industry should operate: identifying a genuine gap and solving it collectively, in the national interest, rather than waiting for government to mandate a fix. A building identifier only has lasting value if it is built as open infrastructure the whole industry can rely on, and prefabAUS's willingness to lead this pilot is proof the model is being built the right way," said Graeme Samuel AC, Chair of Quipex.
He added: "Banks and insurers price risk, but where they cannot identify and verify an asset, they are often not prepared to price it at all. That is the position with a modular home while it is being built in a factory. Lenders do not generally take the unit as collateral during construction, because they cannot see it, track it or verify what has been built. Builders and manufacturers then have to secure their funding against other assets. The BIN is the start of a journey to change that. The pilot will test whether giving each modular unit a verified identity and chain of custody, from the factory floor to occupation, allows lenders and insurers to assess whether they could treat it as collateral and then to price the risk in a far more granular way. If that can happen, it could change how modular housing is financed in Australia."
“A building identifier delivers the greatest value when it operates within a globally recognised data standards framework. GS1 identification standards already enable trusted product, asset, and materials data to move efficiently across supply chains around the world. Extending this proven infrastructure to the built environment is a natural evolution, creating a consistent and interoperable way to identify buildings and connect them with accurate digital information throughout their lifecycle,” said Bonnie Ryan, GM Industry Engagement, GS1 Australia.