Prefabricated Building Systems Project
Menu: Click across the green arrows to view active and completed project stages. Consultation takes place at every stage of the project.Case for change
The skills to implement and manage prefabrication processes and technology for panelised timber building systems was identified as a priority skill area in the 2017 Forest and Wood Products IRC Skills Forecast (see page 47). Skills Impact and the Timber Building Solutions Industry Reference Committee (IRC) will take this project through a process that adheres to the 2012 Standards for Training Package Development.
Project Plan
Project Scope
This project will review and update units of competency for timber truss and frame design and manufacture, to reflect emerging industry skill requirements, including prefabrication of panelised building systems, so that all job functions are accurately described.
Scroll down to view the list of units that will be reviewed in this project, and the various skilled activities they cover. New units will also be developed as identified through industry consultation.
The increased development of panelised building systems and changing manufacturing processes, driven by the strong demand in building construction, has resulted in the demand for specific skills to operate Computer Numerical Control (CNC) equipment, use of tools for on-site product installation, management of prefabrication processes and providing advice for regarding product conformance.
Register your interest in the projectSubscribe to the Skills Impact newsletter to keep informed about project updates and opportunities to provide input and feedback. Make sure to select ‘Forestry & Timber’ as your industry of interest on the subscription form. |
Relevant Occupations
Production supervisors and fabricators in the frame and truss manufacturing sector.
Key Deliverables
- The review and improvement of three (3) units of competency from the timber truss and frame design and manufacture qualifications to update specific skills and aspects guided by industry consultation.
- Development of new units of competency in the FWP Forest and Wood Products Training Package to incorporate skills for using tools, operating technology and implementing processes for prefabricated panelised timber building systems and to conduct on-site installation. The new units will include the use of knowledge to communicate product conformance and solutions for panelised timber building systems.
Timeline
November 2017
Initial scoping
December 2017 – January 2018
Development of draft materials
February 2018
Industry consultation of draft materials
March 2018
Industry validation of final drafts
April 2018
Finalisation of training package components
April – May 2018
Independent quality assurance, and edit and equity review of training package components
June 2018
IRC consideration for sign-off and submission for endorsement
Units that will be will be reviewed
Below is a list of the current units that will be reviewed as part of this project. Click on the unit name to view the components on training.gov.au.
New units will also be developed for prefabrication of panelised building systems, as identified through industry consultation.
- FWPCOT2230 Assemble products
- FWPCOT4203 Plan and coordinate product assembly
- FWPTMM5203 Generate and transfer complex computer-aided drawings and specifications
Project Team
| Georgiana Daian | Project Manager, ForestWorks [email protected] |
| Michelle Clayton | Training Package Specialist, ForestWorks [email protected] |
| Appointed as required | Skills Development Specialist |
Technical Experts
A Technical Advisory Committee will be established to provide technical input to the review and development of units, skill sets and qualifications.
If you are interested in applying to be a technical expert and are able to volunteer your time to this project, please email details of your expertise to [email protected]
Development
Initial consultation with a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) was conducted to define the scope of the project. Following this feedback, work has begun on the development of units of competency to address skill needs and gaps that relate to:
- Design of panelised and/or modular prefabricated timber building systems to meet compliance, off-site prefabrication and on-site installation requirements. The main job outcomes will include detailed and integrated design solutions for prefabricated timber building systems that meet structural and safety compliance and provide specifications for all stages of the system’s life cycle (off-site prefabrication, transportation and on-site installation).
- Prefabrication of timber building systems off-site to cover the application of higher level production skills including the planning and lean production of assembly work and quality management.
- Installation of prefabricated timber building systems to address key competencies in relation to safe work practices and use of tools and equipment to accurately position and fix prefabricated timber building systems. Activities require the ability to read and apply detailed design specifications and apply knowledge of materials, prefabrication processes and installation techniques to identify and rectify problems during the on-site installation of prefabricated timber building systems.
The project has discovered that the job roles in the prefabrication of timber building systems are not new, but highly defined as trade and non-trade occupations. Many of the skills and knowledge required in this industry sector for design, prefabrication and installation are already covered by existing units of competency from a range of training packages including property services, furnishing, manufacturing and engineering, forest and wood products and construction (carpentry). However, there are some skills gaps that relate to specific competencies (as outlined above) that enable people to define their capabilities in the prefabrication of timber building systems or perform tasks within the scope of prefabrication processes.
The Timber Building Solutions Industry Reference Committee is awaiting a determination of a request for extension for this project to ensure that emerging technology is included.
Technical Experts
A Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) has been established and includes the following members.
| Name | Organisation |
| Abdul Rauf | Box Hill Institute of TAFE |
| Alastair Woodard | Wood Solutions |
| Anita Day | Multinail |
| Gregory Nolan | University of Tasmania |
| Hans Porada | TAFE NSW Albury |
| Jason Reints | Bliss & Reels |
| Mihai Daian | Margules Groome Consulting |
| Philip Alviano | Master Builders Victoria |
| Stephen Burchard | Multinail |
| Stuart Hoxley | Chisholm Institute |
| Stewart Humphreys-Grey | Box Hill Institute of TAFE |
| Stuart Maxwell | CFMEU |
Additional subject matter experts are welcome and invited. If you would like to contribute technical expertise to the project, please email [email protected]
Register your interest in the projectSubscribe to the Skills Impact newsletter to keep informed about project updates and opportunities to provide input and feedback. Make sure to select ‘Forestry & Timber’ as your industry of interest on the subscription form. |
Drafts Available
Thank you to all those who provided feedback on the revised units of competency. The drafts were made available on the Skills Impact website for broad stakeholder review from 6 – 27 August 2018.
Feedback was sought on whether the draft documents reflect current industry skills standards, knowledge and practices and whether all job functions are accurately described. Feedback will inform the work on the final drafts which will be available for industry validation in September 2018.
The new units have been developed in conjunction with the Cross Laminated Timber Building Systems Project in the area of design, manufacture and installation of timber building systems. The three existing units of competency have been revised to meet the skill needs of timber building systems while maintaining their suitability for all other users and timber manufacturing sectors.
Summary of consultation
Feedback on the draft documents was collected via the online feedback hub. To view the draft documents, including comments that were made on them from people using the feedback hub, please click on the expandable document menus below.
The draft units have been developed in consultation with a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), made up of workplace experts and industry, with input from their networks also. Due to cross over of many of the skills being reviewed, consultation activities for this project have taken place concurrently with the Cross Laminated Timber Building Systems Project. Box Hill Institute has also been consulted, as they are working on a similar project at the State level, funded by the Victorian Government. Collaborative work was undertaken to align the new units with overlaps in the two projects.
New Units
Four new units have been developed in conjunction with the Cross Laminated Timber Building Systems Project in the area of design, manufacture and installation of prefabricated timber building systems.
The draft documents can be downloaded in Microsoft Word format by clicking here.
Design
| FWPTMM5XXX Design timber building systems for compliance, off-site manufacture and on-site installation | Job roles targeted:
Skills and knowledge covered:
| View unit |
Off-site manufacture
| FWPTMM3XXX Apply critical workplace processes in the off-site manufacture of timber building systems | Job roles targeted:
Skills and knowledge covered:
| View unit |
| FWPTMM5XXX Verify compliance and conformance of prefabricated timber building systems during off-site manufacture | Job roles targeted:
Skills and knowledge covered:
| View unit |
On-site installation
| FWPTMM3XXX Install prefabricated timber building systems on-site | Job roles targeted:
Skills and knowledge covered:
| View unit |
Revised Units
Three existing units of competency have been revised to meet the skill needs for prefabrication of timber building systems while maintaining their suitability for all other users and timber manufacturing sectors.
Workplace health and safety requirements have been updated in the performance criteria, the intent of the units and assessment requirements have been clarified and the range of products in some units has been expanded to include cross laminated timber.
The draft documents can be downloaded in Microsoft Word format by clicking here.
| FWPCOT2230 Assemble products | View unit |
| FWPCOT4203 Plan and coordinate product assembly | View unit |
| FWPTMM5203 Generate and transfer complex computer-aided drawings and specifications | View unit |
Register your interest in the projectSubscribe to the Skills Impact newsletter to keep informed about project updates and opportunities to provide input and feedback. Make sure to select ‘Forestry & Timber’ as your industry of interest on the subscription form. |
Validation
Thank you to those who participated in the validation process for the final draft units of competency. The final drafts were made available for broad stakeholder validation and comment on this webpage, from 3 – 16 September 2018. The final drafts will shortly progress through to the Finalisation stage of the project, which includes quality assurance of the documents and review and feedback from the State/Territory Training Authorities, before the final drafts are forwarded to the Timber Building Solutions Industry Reference Committee (IRC) for consideration and sign off. They will then be submitted to the Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC) to consider and approve for publication on training.gov.au.
Validation means checking and confirming that the documents are logical and factually accurate.
Summary of consultation
Prior to the Validation period, the draft units of competency were made available on this webpage for broad stakeholder review, from 6 – 27 August 2018, under the ‘Drafts Available’ menu above. Under this menu, you can still view the drafts, including any comments that were made on them from people using the feedback hub. Feedback was also received via other engagement methods. A description of how this feedback was considered and applied in the final drafts can be downloaded via the ‘Download Summary of Feedback, Responses and Actions’ button.
The units have been developed in consultation with a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), made up of workplace experts and industry, with input from their networks. Due to cross over of many of the skills being reviewed, consultation activities for this project have taken place concurrently with the Cross Laminated Timber Building Systems Project. Box Hill Institute has also been consulted, as they are working on a similar project at the State level, funded by the Victorian Government. Collaborative work was undertaken to align the new units with overlaps in the two projects.
New Units
Four new units have been developed in conjunction with the Cross Laminated Timber Building Systems Project in the area of design, manufacture and installation of prefabricated timber building systems.
Click here to download a zipped folder of all units in this group
Views were sought on the placement of the new units within qualifications from the FWP Forest and Wood Products Training Package. It is proposed that the new units are listed as electives on relevant frame and truss qualifications (see table below).
| FWPTMM5XXX Design prefabricated timber building systems for compliance, off-site manufacture and on-site installation | FWPTMM3XXX Apply critical workplace processes in the off-site manufacture of timber building systems | FWPTMM5XXX Verify compliance and conformance of prefabricated timber building systems during off-site manufacture | FWPTMM3XXX Install prefabricated timber building systems on-site | |
| FWP50316 Diploma of Timber Truss and Frame Design | x | |||
| FWP30916 Certificate III in Timber Truss and Frame Design and Manufacture | x | x | ||
| FWP50216 Diploma of Timber Truss and Frame Manufacture | x |
Design
| FWPTMM5XXX Design prefabricated timber building systems for compliance, off-site manufacture and on-site installation | Job roles targeted:
Skills and knowledge covered:
| Download final draft unit |
Off-site manufacture
| FWPTMM3XXX Apply critical workplace processes in the off-site manufacture of timber building systems | Job roles targeted:
Skills and knowledge covered:
| Download final draft unit |
| FWPTMM5XXX Verify compliance and conformance of prefabricated timber building systems during off-site manufacture | Job roles targeted:
Skills and knowledge covered:
| Download final draft unit |
On-site installation
| FWPTMM3XXX Install prefabricated timber building systems on-site | Job roles targeted:
Skills and knowledge covered:
| Download final draft unit |
Revised Units
Three existing units of competency have been revised to meet the skill needs for prefabrication of timber building systems while maintaining their suitability for all other users and timber manufacturing sectors.
Workplace health and safety requirements have been updated in the performance criteria, the intent of the units and assessment requirements have been clarified and the range of products in some units has been expanded to include cross laminated timber.
Click here to download a zipped folder of all units in this group
| FWPCOT2230 Assemble products | Download final draft unit |
| FWPCOT4203 Plan and coordinate product assembly | Download final draft unit |
| FWPTMM5203 Generate and transfer complex computer-aided drawings and specifications | Download final draft unit |
Register your interest in the projectSubscribe to the Skills Impact newsletter to keep informed about project updates and opportunities to provide input and feedback. Make sure to select ‘Forestry & Timber’ as your industry of interest on the subscription form. |
Next stage of the project
Once industry has validated all final drafts they will be submitted to the Timber Building Solutions Industry Reference Committee (IRC) for consideration and sign off. After final quality assurance of the drafts, they will be submitted to the Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC) to consider and approve for publication on training.gov.au.
Finalisation
On the 4 December 2018, the Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC) approved the Case for Endorsement for the new and revised units of competency, along with a Companion Volume Implementation Guide.
The final units are now published on training.gov.au, which means they are available for use by registered training organisations (RTOs). They are published within the FWP Forest and Wood Products Training Package version 4 (published on 18/12/2018). Click here to view the training package.
This project reviewed and updated units of competency for timber truss and frame design and manufacture to reflect emerging industry skill requirements, including prefabrication of panelised building systems, so that all job functions are accurately described.
What does this mean for training providers?
Registered training organisations (RTOs) may now apply to have the updated qualifications, skill sets and units added to their scope of registration. RTOs who already have the qualifications, skill sets and units that have been updated as part of this endorsement have 12 months to transition to deliver the updated qualifications, skill sets and units, from the date of publication. For more information, visit the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) website.
A Companion Volume Implementation Guide has also been produced to help training providers implement the new and revised qualifications, skill sets and units. It can be downloaded from VETNet.com.
Summary of project outcomes
- 3 revised units of competency.
- 4 new units, in the area of design, manufacture and installation of prefabricated timber building systems (developed in in conjunction with the Cross Laminated Timber Building Systems Project).
Case for Endorsement
Please see the Case for Endorsement for more information about the work that was undertaken and why:
Note that the units developed out of the Cross Laminated Timber Building Systems Project were also approved as part of this Case for Endorsement.
Summary of Consultation
The final drafts were made available for broad stakeholder validation and comment on this webpage, from 3 – 16 September 2018, under the ‘Validation’ menu above. Prior to this the draft units of competency underwent broad stakeholder review, from 6 – 27 August 2018, under the ‘Drafts Available’ menu. Under this menu, you can still view the drafts, including any comments that were made on them from people using the feedback hub. Feedback was also received via other engagement methods. A description of how this feedback was considered and applied in the final drafts can be downloaded via the ‘Download Summary of Feedback, Responses and Actions’ button.
The draft units have been developed in consultation with a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), made up of workplace experts and industry, with input from their networks. Advice was provided from the TAC on job roles and skill requirements in the manufacturing of solid engineered wood products (CLT & Glulam).
Four new units have been developed in conjunction with the Prefabricated Timber Building Systems Project, in the area of design, manufacture and installation of prefabricated timber building systems, involving Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) and Glulam among other components.
| FWPTMM5209 Determine prefabricated timber building systems designs for compliance, manufacture and installation | View unit on training.gov.au |
| FWPTMM3208 Apply critical workplace processes in the manufacture of prefabricated timber building systems | View unit on training.gov.au |
| FWPTMM5210 Verify compliance and conformance of prefabricated timber building systems during manufacture | View unit on training.gov.au |
| FWPTMM3209 Install prefabricated timber building systems on-site | View unit on training.gov.au |
Three existing units of competency have been revised to meet the skill needs for prefabrication of timber building systems while maintaining their suitability for all other users and timber manufacturing sectors.
Workplace health and safety requirements have been updated in the performance criteria, the intent of the units and assessment requirements have been clarified and the range of products in some units has been expanded to include cross laminated timber.
| FWPCOT2230 Assemble products | View unit on training.gov.au |
| FWPCOT4203 Plan and coordinate product assembly | View unit on training.gov.au |
| FWPTMM5203 Generate and transfer complex computer-aided drawings and specifications | View unit on training.gov.au |