Wesfarmers-backed Built Living has secured up to $120 million from the National Reconstruction Fund to build a housing manufacturing facility in Perth’s north. The loan supports a pilot site at Neerabup, designed to produce components for over 2,000 apartments annually. That volume equates to roughly one dwelling per hour if the factory runs a standard 40-hour week, 52 weeks a year.
Factory setup and funding structure
Construction on the site is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2026. The first manufacturing output is targeted for early 2028. Built Living is a joint venture announced in May between the contractor Built and Wesfarmers. The partnership is structured as a 50:50 split, with Wesfarmers committing $100 million in equity.
The Western Australian Government is also supporting the project. It is providing a $20 million incentive and a long-term lease at the Neerabup Automation and Robotics Precinct. Property developer Adrian Fini will hold an economic interest in the facility. This structure allows the venture to leverage both private capital and public infrastructure support from the start.
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The venture was established earlier this year after Built spent nearly two years researching overseas housing delivery models. It will use Design for Manufacture and Assembly, known as DfMA, to create modular and precast concrete components. These parts are made in a controlled factory environment before being assembled at apartment projects. This approach aims to deliver apartments up to 50 per cent faster and up to 20 per cent cheaper than traditional on-site construction.
Operational scale and local impact
Neerabup sits 35 kilometres from the Perth CBD. The facility is expected to create about 150 jobs during the construction phase. Once operational, it will support another 150 ongoing roles in advanced manufacturing, robotics, and automation. The workforce will focus on producing standardized building elements rather than raw site labor. This shift in labor demand marks a notable change for the local construction sector.
While traditional concrete casting often relies on heavy on-site labor and weather-dependent schedules, this factory model moves the complexity indoors. It allows for tighter quality control and consistent production rates that are harder to achieve in open-air environments. This industrial approach to residential building is less common in Australia but gaining traction globally. The goal is to treat apartment construction more like automotive assembly, where efficiency is measured in units per hour rather than square meters per day.
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Strategic goals and national vision
Built Living chief executive Dale Connor said the government backing would help transform the residential construction supply chain. “Investing in modern methods of construction is a practical way to address Australia’s housing challenge,” he added. The facility will initially support Built Living’s residential pipeline and third-party developments. Some capacity is also reserved for government-backed housing and social infrastructure projects.
The Neerabup factory is intended to form the foundation of a broader national manufacturing platform. Built Living plans to use this model beyond Western Australia. David Gall from the NRFC said the investment would complement traditional construction with a scalable manufacturing model. “By introducing digitisation and automation into the apartment construction process, NRFC investment is expected to lower costs, shorten delivery timelines and improve construction efficiency,” he said.
