b'PREFAB helps ensure consistent, reassurances. As Welch notes, Whenprovince. Meanwhile, for Bowerbank high-standard outcomes. you mechanize, you lose labour. Thatsand the Prefab Buildings Initiative, its not what we want to do, so were alwaysabout uniting prefab constructors and Sustainability: Modular and prefabconsidering the human piece as wedemonstrating their collective value to construction factories are designed tomove ahead. the industry. produce less waste, while reducing the amount of travel to and from the siteThe future of prefab and modularAfter all, adds Welch, Its important for by trades mitigates greenhouse construction relies on buildingthe construction industry, for general gas emissions. awareness around the advantages of bothcontractors, not to be threatened by the techniques. For companies like Freeport Industries and Fort Modular, that meansmodular industry. Were two separate Derisking Projects: Having a complete design done beforecontinuing to put theory to practiceentities that can complement andmanufacturing mitigates the needwith successful builds throughout thework together.to have multiple change orders once construction has begun. Many of these benefits derive from the ability to reproduce standardized designs. This is why Rick Welch, vice president of modular construction for Fort Modular in B.C., is among the industrys prefab advocates who say replicability and scalability are among the core benefits. Take a look at a three-storey apartment building, he suggests. Does every apartment building need to be designed from scratch? How many one-bedroom, two-bedroom and studio apartment design options do we really need? With repeatable, scalable floor plans, you could have those pre-engineered, off the shelf and ready to go, save for maybel some different exterior finishes or colours to give it a different look.CLEARING THE WAYThe market is ripe for modular and prefab construction. Even still, these methods have yet to gain significant traction in North America. Part of the slowdown is that the industry is still in the process of exploring prefab and modular techniques, while misconceptions about quality and applications are giving some project owners pause. People dont intuitively think modular can be a solution for a variety of projects, because typically its been focused on housing, says Friesen. And then there is still a stigma of modular being lesser quality, even though that is far from the case. Reservations around the loss of job opportunities are also part of the conversation, despite industry SICA CONSTRUCTION REVIEWSpring 202527'