Thank you.

Good morning, everyone.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the standing committee, for the opportunity to speak on this subject, representing BECC Modular and the off-site construction industry. The homebuilding technology and advancements in that field are critical, obviously.

We have five key points we would like to table today. They are the standardization of design, procurement policy, enhanced collaboration, education on building quality in the off-site industry and sustainable advantages. I think it's important to understand that, when we're talking about technology in construction or off-site construction, we can have the best technology in the world, but if the whole ecosystem is not in line, it doesn't matter about the technology. The word “technology” is here, but it's important to understand it as an ecosystem in construction.

Number one is the standardization of design. As a construction industry, it's important that traditionally, when you design something, a conventional construction process can actually build whatever an architect designs up front. When you're improving the process in any way, shape or form, you have to look right back to the beginning: Does the actual design that's being produced in a traditional manner work in a process where new advancements will be able to take advantage of that design? In terms of improving the actual standardization across the board for the factories and coming up with a model that is not restrictive and specific to a factory, for example, but to a point where any factory can build from a standard—whether building with wood, steel or plastic, it doesn't matter—can we get to an approach where a fundamental design helps everybody?

The next one is procurement policy. In a traditional method, again, if we're going to an advanced methodology that changes things, if you go to the traditional model of procurement, often we'll see what is called a “design-bid”, which means you design something at an architectural level. In a traditional sense, if you design it, there's a construction firm that can build it. It doesn't matter; it's in situ. You've designed it and we can build it. However, if you're trying to improve the entire life cycle of construction and expedite it or improve it in any way, you end up designing something that doesn't fit a model that's being created by the industry, because it's being designed for a traditional sense. I think the standardization being put forward by the federal government and CMHC is admirable. It's more complicated than just putting out a standard, because you're dealing with land property, code differences and whether that design is the same and can go in different locations.

The next one is a deeper collaboration between all levels of government. As an example, at the federal level we have some fantastic policies being put in place, but unless it's at the provincial or municipal level, we'll continue to see roadblocks. It's critical that we ask members of this committee to keep that in mind and make sure that, at all levels, we're focused on the change at one level being continued through the other two levels of government.

The fourth one is education on off-site. What we mean by this is that often we run into the reality that, when we're building, people are not educated in the fact that when you have an off-site production facility, it is a very stringent quality QA and QC process. The CSA actually requires that. The inspection at a site is very common, but it's also as common in a factory.

What we're building in a factory has as good or better quality than what's at the site. It's important, on the education front, that we're all...especially at the municipal or provincial level. When there's a project going on, the quality in a factory is actually more rigid and stringent than what's going on at a site, but we need to reduce the barriers because of a presumption that the quality is lesser. It slows down the process and costs everybody more, which is counterproductive.

The fifth is sustainability. I don't think there's an industry we're working in right now that doesn't have this at top of mind. When we're looking at off-site construction or the modular industry, everything we do is as precise as possible, with less waste. If you go into a factory, you see a small trash bin. If you go to a construction site, you see multiple trash bins. The sustainability aspect of off-site construction and the technology we're bringing are superior.