The Australian Institute of Architects has called on the government to introduce a national supply chain strategy to address materials shortages and skyrocketing costs.
National president Shannon Battisson says the soaring costs and material shortfalls can be attributed to to supply chain issues, which are having knock-on effects beyond the collapse of construction businesses through to the broader economy. She forecasts this could have adverse impacts on national housing supply and affordability.
“Australia has experienced the largest ever increase in input prices for house construction since the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) started collecting data in 1996,” said Battisson. “Nationally, this was 17.3 percent for the 12 months to June 30 and in Melbourne it reached 20 percent.”
Battisson added the crisis also extends to shortages in construction trades. This can be attributed to increased labour costs, rebuilding measures required for flood-affected areas of the east coast, on top of other disasters over the past few years. Supply and labour shortages are causing price increases and volatility, with impacts including project delays and materials and product substitution.
“The Institute is very concerned about the labour issue. We are confident that the construction sector, unions and government can collaborate to create short- and longer-term strategies to address skills shortages,” Battison added.
The Institute has called on the government to establish a supply chain strategy in the October 2022 budget for building and construction materials to ensure the sector is less vulnerable to pandemics, disease or overseas conflict.
“We now look to the government to use all of its levers to de-risk collapse and create a supply chain strategy that gives the Australian construction sector much greater resilience both now and into the future,” said Battisson.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
