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Australia's construction industry is changing
Australia's construction industry is entering a period of significant transformation.
Housing affordability, labour shortages, rising construction costs and longstanding productivity challenges are placing increasing pressure on the way we design and deliver buildings.
The traditional approach, in which most construction activities are carried out sequentially on individual building sites, is being challenged by Modern Methods of Construction (MMC).
MMC encompasses a range of approaches, including prefabrication, modular construction, off-site manufacturing, panelised building systems and the integration of digitally coordinated building components.
These methods share an important principle: wherever practical, building elements should be designed and manufactured in controlled environments before being transported for installation or assembly.
The objective is not simply to build faster. It is to develop more predictable, repeatable and efficient construction processes without compromising safety, quality or design flexibility.
But achieving this transformation requires more than moving conventional building activities into factories.
It requires reconsidering how the individual systems within a building are designed, manufactured, coordinated and installed.
Electrical installation is one of those systems.
Why construction productivity matters
Australia's housing construction productivity challenge is well documented.
In February 2025, the Australian Productivity Commission published Housing construction productivity: Can we fix it?, examining decades of weak productivity performance and identifying opportunities for regulatory reform, workforce flexibility and innovation.
Infrastructure Australia's 2025 Infrastructure Market Capacity Report also highlighted the relatively limited adoption of prefabricated construction, which represented less than 5% of the market.
These findings suggest that there is considerable potential to modernise the way construction work is organised.
Government policy is increasingly recognising this opportunity.
Queensland's QBuild Modern Methods of Construction programme incorporates factory manufacturing, standardised designs and parallel site preparation.
New South Wales has introduced reforms to better accommodate prefabricated and modular construction, alongside initiatives intended to expand advanced manufacturing capacity.
At a national level, the Australian Government announced further support for MMC in October 2026, including measures promoting standardised, factory-manufactured building components and a more coordinated approach to regulation.
These developments represent a meaningful shift toward industrialised construction.
However, the productivity benefits will depend on how effectively the industry's many building systems adapt to this approach.
The challenge with conventional electrical installation
Conventional electrical installation has evolved over many years to provide safe, flexible and reliable electrical systems.
It is supported by established design practices, licensed electricians, recognised equipment and comprehensive installation standards.
These remain essential strengths.
Nevertheless, conventional installation methods are predominantly organised around work performed on the construction site.
For a typical residential project, electrical work may involve:
- Reviewing drawings and determining cable routes.
- Measuring, cutting and installing cables.
- Routing cables through ceiling spaces, walls and structural cavities.
- Installing electrical accessories and junction points.
- Stripping and terminating conductors.
- Identifying and connecting switching circuits.
- Completing electrical fit-off.
- Inspecting, testing and commissioning the installation.
Each of these activities serves an important purpose.
The important question is not whether conventional wiring methods work.
They do!
The question is whether every repetitive activity must continue to be performed individually on site when portions of that work could be planned, manufactured and tested beforehand.
What changes when buildings are manufactured?
Modern manufacturing relies heavily on coordinated design, repeatable components, defined assembly processes, quality assurance and controlled production.
A factory manufacturing modular building components needs reliable information about what is being installed, where it belongs, how components connect and how their quality will be verified.
Electrical installation must fit within that production environment.
If factory workers must repeatedly measure, cut, identify and prepare electrical cabling using methods developed primarily for conventional site construction, some potential benefits of industrialised building may be lost.
This does not mean that all electrical work should move into factories.
Final installation, electrical connections, inspection, testing and commissioning remain subject to the applicable requirements of each project and jurisdiction.
However, suitable repetitive activities can potentially be transferred into a premanufacturing process.
Examples include:
- Preparing project-specific cable assemblies.
- Identifying conductors and connection points.
- Configuring electrical distribution arrangements.
- Manufacturing repeatable wiring harnesses.
- Completing predefined factory inspections and tests.
- Preparing installation schedules and documentation.
This creates the possibility of changing electrical installation from a predominantly field-assembled process to a more coordinated combination of factory production and site installation.
Design for Manufacture and Assembly: the missing connection
Design for Manufacture and Assembly, commonly referred to as DfMA, is increasingly relevant to modern construction.
Its fundamental purpose is to consider manufacturing and assembly requirements during the design phase rather than after the design has been completed.
Applied to electrical installation, DfMA encourages designers, contractors and manufacturers to consider several practical questions:
Can electrical circuits be configured into repeatable assemblies?
Can building layouts be standardised sufficiently to support factory production?
Can cables and conductors be identified before arriving on site?
Can appropriate components be inspected and tested before installation?
Can installation instructions be simplified through coordinated drawings and clearly identified connections?
And can the system accommodate necessary changes without undermining manufacturing efficiency?
These are not simply electrical questions.
They concern the integration of electrical design, procurement, manufacturing, building construction, quality assurance and project delivery.
To maximise the benefits of MMC, electrical systems should increasingly be considered as manufactured building assemblies rather than solely as collections of materials installed on site.
Introducing the P-Hub System
The P-Hub System was developed in response to this opportunity.
Rather than approaching every lighting, switching, ceiling fan and compatible electrical connection as an entirely separate field-wiring activity, P-Hub uses a centrally configured electrical hub with project-specific, premanufactured wiring harnesses.
The system is designed around planned electrical circuits, identified cable assemblies and a coordinated installation methodology.
Its principal elements include:
- A prewired central electrical hub.
- Project-specific cable and conductor configurations.
- Individually identified wiring harnesses.
- Connection arrangements matched to electrical drawings.
- Controlled manufacturing and quality assurance.
- Factory testing before dispatch.
- A defined installation and verification process.
The objective is to complete suitable electrical assembly activities in a controlled manufacturing environment while retaining the essential responsibilities of licensed electrical contractors and electricians.
P-Hub should therefore not be understood merely as an alternative electrical junction box.
It is an approach to organising electrical installation around advance design, premanufacturing, identification, testing and assembly.
This distinction becomes particularly important when considering modular and prefabricated construction.
Where could premanufactured electrical systems be most effective?
Not every building project offers the same opportunities for electrical premanufacturing.
Highly customised buildings with constantly changing layouts may require extensive project-specific engineering and coordination.
By comparison, developments incorporating repeated building configurations may offer more favourable manufacturing conditions.
Potential applications include:
Modular housing: Standardised residential modules provide opportunities to coordinate electrical assemblies with factory production schedules.
High-rise apartment buildings: Repeated apartment layouts can support repeatable wiring configurations across multiple floors.
Prefabricated accommodation: Factory-built residential and accommodation units may benefit from consistent electrical assembly processes.
Standardised housing developments: Repeated house designs provide opportunities to manufacture common electrical configurations.
Commercial and specialised buildings: Suitable repeated room layouts or functional areas may also support premanufactured electrical systems.
The common factor is not necessarily the type of building.
It is the degree to which electrical configurations can be designed, coordinated and repeated.
This is where standardisation and DfMA can provide the foundation for scalable manufacturing.
Quality assurance and electrical compliance remain essential
One of the potential advantages of premanufacturing is the opportunity to complete defined assembly and inspection activities in a controlled environment.
Factory production can support consistent assembly procedures, component identification, documented inspections and repeatable testing processes.
However, factory testing must not be confused with final electrical installation verification.
Premanufactured electrical assemblies remain subject to applicable equipment and installation requirements.
In Australia, relevant requirements may include AS/NZS 3000, AS/NZS 61535:2011 and electrical equipment regulatory obligations, depending on the product and its application.
The P-Hub System has been developed with these considerations in mind.
Its adoption does not eliminate the need for competent electrical design, compliant equipment, licensed electrical installation, inspection or commissioning.
Instead, the opportunity is to improve how suitable portions of electrical installation are prepared and controlled before arriving at the building site.
The electrical contractor remains an essential participant in both the design coordination and installation process.
From electrical drawings to manufacturing information
The longer-term opportunity extends beyond the physical wiring assembly.
As construction becomes increasingly digital, electrical drawings and project data can potentially be used to generate manufacturing information more efficiently.
A coordinated process could progressively connect:
Electrical Design → P-Hub Configuration → Harness Scheduling → Manufacturing → Identification → Quality Assurance → Factory Testing → Installation → Verification
Further development may include automated configuration, digital manufacturing records, automated testing and improved traceability.
Such capabilities represent future development opportunities rather than claims that every function is currently automated.
The underlying principle is nevertheless important.
Manufacturing efficiency depends not only on the product being assembled but also on the reliability of the information driving its production.
Measuring the real benefits
The potential advantages of premanufactured electrical systems should be evaluated using practical project evidence.
Relevant measurements include:
- Electrical labour required during rough-in and fit-off.
- Factory manufacturing and preparation time.
- Cable quantities and material waste.
- Installation and termination activities.
- Inspection and testing time.
- Rework and defect rates.
- Programme coordination.
- Total installed cost.
It is particularly important to compare the complete process rather than counting only the reduction in on-site labour.
Factory design, manufacturing, testing, logistics and installation all contribute to total project cost.
For this reason, P-Hub productivity improvements should be demonstrated through controlled pilot installations and documented comparisons with conventional electrical installation methods.
The objective is to establish measurable evidence of where the system provides value, under which project conditions, and what improvements may be required.
The next phase of industrialised construction
Australia's emerging MMC sector creates an opportunity to reconsider how different building services are delivered.
Structural systems, wall panels, bathroom pods and volumetric modules are increasingly being considered through the lens of manufacturing efficiency.
Electrical installation deserves the same attention.
The industry does not necessarily need to abandon conventional electrical practices.
It needs to identify which activities are best completed on site, which can be more efficiently manufactured beforehand, and how those processes can be integrated without compromising safety or quality.
The P-Hub System has been designed to contribute to that transition.
Its long-term potential lies not simply in changing how electrical cables are connected, but in supporting a more coordinated approach to electrical design, manufacture, testing and installation.
The future of modular construction is not simply manufacturing buildings in factories. It is manufacturing coordinated building systems that are engineered to work together.
Electrical installation can be part of that future.
About the P-Hub System
The P-Hub System is a premanufactured electrical wiring and distribution system developed by Charles Kennedy, an electrical and engineering industry practitioner and inventor. The system is intended to support more coordinated electrical installation processes across suitable residential, modular, prefabricated and other building applications.
Learn more about P-Hub through Electric Harness Systems.
Research references
- Productivity Commission — Housing construction productivity: Can we fix it? (2025)
- Infrastructure Australia — 2025 Infrastructure Market Capacity Report
- Queensland Government — Modern Methods of Construction Program
- Australian Government — Building More Homes, Faster, with Modern Construction (19 October 2026)
- Australian Building Codes Board — Prefabricated, Modular and Offsite Construction Handbook
- Standards Australia — Prefabricated Building Glossary, SA HB 268 (2026)