Freecity Stacks First Modules for Australia’s Tallest Prefab Tower

Things are stacking up for Freecity’s 20-storey tower at Macquarie Park as the first factory-built modules are craned into position for the 528-unit student accommodation project. Once complete, the building will be the tallest volumetric modular construction (VMC) project in Australia. Unlike conventional builds, where trades work through a sequential program, VMC runs site preparation and module fabrication at the same time. Modules for the project at 169-171 Herring Road were manufactured in China and fitted out with facades, wiring and finishes before being transported to Sydney through modular integrator Space Labs Australia. Freecity co-founder and joint chief executive Lawrence Zheng said seeing the first modules stacked was a “significant moment, and the result of years of investment, research and development”. “It is also a reminder of what this project is ultimately about: improving productivity and getting much-needed housing into the market faster than conventional construction allows,” Zheng said. Pressure on Sydney’s private rental market was a key driver behind the project’s location and format, Zheng said. “When students have quality, dedicated housing close to their university, they are not competing with families, professionals and key workers for the same private rental stock,” he said. “That is the problem we are solving here, at Macquarie Park and for co-living and build-to-rent housing across our broader development pipeline.” Freecity associate director of development Benjamin Brown said repeatable room configurations made student accommodation a natural fit for modular delivery. “Utilising this form of construction methodology enhances dimensional accuracy and improves tolerance precision to approximately 2 per cent,” Brown said. “That level of precision, replicated across 528 rooms, is very difficult to achieve with traditional construction methods. According to Brown, the construction program at Herring Road is slated for18 months—about 25 per cent faster than traditional methods and at a “pace the surging demand for housing in Australia needs”. Delete Freecity is currently installing between eight and ten modules per day, Brown told The Urban Developer , with each taking an average of 45 to 60 minutes from hook-up to placement depending on position and sequencing. Deliveries are managed on a just-in-time basis, with trucks entering one at a time, witha dedicated holding point keeping vehicles off Herring Road. “That keeps the footprint on local roads tight, which matters in a precinct this dense,” Brown said, adding that the pre-finished nature of the modules also reduced broader traffic impact. Conventional construction generates a constant stream of separate material deliveries and trades parking in surrounding streets. That is largely eliminated when fitout happens in the factory, he said. Pre-delivery stacking trials at the manufacturing facility allowed adjustments to be made before modules reached the site, reducing on-site surprises. “That said, no build is without its lessons and Freecity will be maintaining a live lessons-learned register throughout construction to capture insights as they emerge,” Brown said. COX Architecture director Felipe Miranda said precision manufacturing had kept the architecture coherent. “It’s an approach that opens up new possibilities for scalable, sustainable living environments,” Miranda said. The project site is 100m from Macquarie University, the Macquarie Park Metro Station and Macquarie Shopping Centre. The tower targets a student population the university estimates at around 44,000, with on-campus beds consistently oversubscribed. Delete Planned amenities include a cinema, study and meeting rooms, function spaces, a gym, communal kitchens and social spaces. Factory-based production generates less on-site waste and lower carbon emissions than conventional construction. The project is targeting a 5 Star Green Star Buildings rating and WELL for Residential Certification, and the modular system is designed to allow modules to be reused or stripped for materials at end of life. Freecity executive director of development Michael Romano told The Urban Developer that “ we design in a way that we can disassemble them ”. “That means we’re not just preserving land value, we’re preserving flexibility,” he said. Herring Road is the first of three PBSA projects Freecity has under construction across Sydney—its projects at Forest Lodge and Rockdale will create 235 units. The company’s pipeline extends beyond student housing. A 60-plus-storey build-to-rent tower in Parramatta, described by Freecity as potentially the largest VMC building in the world , is in design, alongside three residential towers at Rouse Hill that would deliver 548 rental homes. The group’s total portfolio exceeds $7 billion with more than 6000 units across Sydney’s major urban renewal precincts.

Construction
Leon Della Bosca
Fri 19 Jun 26

Freecity Stacks First Modules for Australia’s Tallest Prefab Tower

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