INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH PROJECT

Master Builders Victoria first post COVID-19 building International Research

AMaster Builders Victoria-led (MBV) delegation, working in collaboration with RMIT University, recently visited Europe, the UK, Canada, and the United States as part of an international research project to support Victoria’s post-COVID-19 building and construction industry.

This was the first Australian-led industry delegation tasked with looking globally and post-pandemic at emerging trends in alternative supply chains and materials, circular economy, net zero buildings, regulatory reform, and innovation in sustainable building practices while examining best-practice skills, training, and migration.

The delegation visited more than 35 organisations and connected with over 80 people in just over two and a half weeks.

We visited associations, universities, regulatory bodies, small and large businesses, and government departments.

In preparation for regional Victoria hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games, we also travelled to Birmingham to inspect the Sandwell Aquatics Centre.

The trip to Birmingham was about understanding the legacy of the 2022 Commonwealth Games and their positive impact on local communities in regional areas.

Wates Group, which is one of the largest privately-owned construction, development, and property services companies in the UK, provided valuable insights to us.

The International Research Project has given us the opportunity to understand the global context of building and construction. We look forward to sharing the full findings with our members and the broader building and construction industry in the coming months.

However, we have captured some of our early findings below.

Skills and Labour Shortages

Generally, we learnt that all the countries we visited are struggling with skills and labour shortages, not only through COVID-19 but also through sociopolitical reasons.

We learned that skills shortages are being impacted by restricting migrant workers, an ageing workforce, and the failure to attract young people to the building and construction industry.

Nevertheless, new strategies are emerging on how to engage with young people and how innovative changes to the industry, such as offsite manufacturing and more sustainable methods of construction, can be a pathway to entice the next generation.

We also spoke to the Federal and Victorian government departments overseas about investment opportunities for building and construction workers and business investment in Australia and overseas.

We met with AUSTRADE in Toronto and Washington, Global Victoria in London and New York, and the Deputy Consul General in New York.

Innovation

The delegation also met with many innovative organisations on our travels.

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for the building and construction industry, we found much innovation in the countries we visited, including BC Materials in Brussels, Innovate UK, Construction Innovation Hub, and the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction in the UK; the University of Toronto’s Mass Timber Institute and Element in Canada; BE-ST and the University of Glasgow in Scotland; and the International Code Council and Offsite TEK in the US.

Despite the existing hurdles in integrating innovation into our industry, there was much talk about the benefits that new technologies, methods of construction, and materials bring in terms of reduced carbon footprint while

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also improving efficiency, safety, costs, and quality of the built environment.

This seems to be pushed by government bodies, academics, and a few players in the industry, but progress appears uneven and lagging in some regions.

Regulation and Compliance

We also met with government bodies from other countries, including the Brussels Environment and Energy Administration; the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing in Ontario and the City of Burlington, Canada; the Australian Embassy in Washington, and the Scottish Government in Glasgow.

Specifically in London, we had the honour of meeting and talking with Dame Judith Hackitt, Amanda Long, Graham Watts, and Peter Caplehorne, to name a few, about building compliance and regulatory reform.

There was a lot to unpack, and the UK’s system had many similarities to Victoria’s.

The first insights reveal that jurisdictional differences are a challenge to our industry and that Building Product Assurance issues are shared across the world.

However, most stakeholders agree that there is a need to shift our industry’s culture.

Training

There were some critical conversations about training and creating a pipeline of talent.

From meetings with Virginia’s Community Colleges System representatives and The Building Talent Foundation in the US, the delegation learned more about training options and creating a talent pipeline.

At a community college level in the US, extensive work is being done with students to achieve qualifications across several industries, including the building and construction industry.

There are also a variety of funding systems to support new industry participants.

Building a sustainable workforce within our industry was vital for The Building Talent Foundation.

To achieve this, they work closely with schools, starting at the kindergarten level, presenting building and construction as viable career options.

Our in-depth discussions have allowed us to compare Victoria against the countries we have visited and consider our strengths and areas of growth in building and construction.

By looking globally and grasping the successes and failures of strategies that have been put into place in jurisdictions facing similar issues to Victoria, we are better positioned to inform policy and understand what can potentially be trialled in our local context.

This will undoubtedly place MBV in a position where we can advocate and work with members and the Victorian Government to develop policies that enable positive change within the building and construction industry, while also supporting our members to embark on this innovative journey.

We would like to again thank the members who sponsored the tour.

Without this sponsorship, we would not have been able to gather the information, nor make the vital connections and understand the challenges and innovations in our industry.

A Master Builders Victoria-led (MBV) delegation, working in collaboration with RMIT University, recently visited Europe, the UK, Canada, and the United States as part of an international research project to support Victoria’s post-COVID-19 building and construction industry. In preparation for regional Victoria hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games, the delegation travelled to Birmingham to inspect the Sandwell Aquatics Centre. The trip helps us to understand the global context of building and construction.