Hassell Leads New International Design Lab Tackling Australia’s Housing Shortage

Global design practice Hassell has thrown its weight behind a new push to solve one of Australia’s most urgent national challenges: how to build enough good, affordable homes — and build them fast enough to matter.

Officially launching this month, the ThriveInspiration™ International Design Lab is a collaboration bringing together Hassell, Western Sydney University (WSU), ThriveInspiration™ and China State Construction Engineering Corp (CSCEC), alongside government, industry and community partners.

The Design Lab, based at Hassell’s Walsh Bay studio, forms a testing ground for modular housing innovation. It’s a place where advanced manufacturing and construction methods are prototyped, evaluated and refined before they reach the market.

GLOBAL SCALE, LOCAL EXPERTISE

Hassell is the Lab’s design partner, responsible for ensuring that new housing typologies are shaped by Australian conditions: local climates, planning frameworks, supply chains and community expectations. WSU supplies independent research, testing and evidence, and ThriveInspiration™ coordinates commercialisation, projects and stakeholders.

The initiative builds on Thrive Inspiration’s Thrive Alliance, which in December 2025 signed an agreement with CSCEC, a global manufacturer producing tens of thousands of apartments and hotel suites each year.

“Our partnership with CSCEC underpins the Lab’s ambition to combine global manufacturing scale with local design and delivery expertise, and to develop research and development outcomes that can ultimately be shared as a platform for affordable housing schemes across the Western world,” said Barrie Harrop, chairman of ThriveInspiration™.

DESIGN, MANUFACTURING AND RESEARCH WORKING TOGETHER

Australia’s National Housing Accord has set a target of 1.2 million new homes to be built nationally between July 2024 and June 2029 — but the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council now expects the target won’t be met until the end of 2030, with no state or territory currently on track.* The ThriveInspiration™ International Design Lab has been established to help address this shortfall through modular housing design and delivery.

“Modular construction only works if the design is right first,” said Kristen Whittle, Principal and Global Leader of MMC at Hassell. “Speed and scale mean nothing if the homes we build don’t respond to how Australians actually live. That’s the job of design — making sure efficiency and liveability aren’t a trade-off.”

“This launch showcases how international manufacturing expertise can be combined with Australian design leadership, research capability and local supply chains,” said Barrie Harrop, chairman of ThriveInspiration™.

“Our focus is on delivering high-quality, adaptable and scalable housing more efficiently, without compromising the Australian expectations for liveability, sustainability, resilience and design quality.”

“Experts from WSU and Hassell will collaborate together across a series of innovation platforms, including design, digital, construction and social value,” said Professor Greg Morrison, co-director of the Urban Transformations Research Centre at WSU. “We will be creating and making quality, resilient homes that are future ready.”

The launch was paired with a senior-level workshop examining the role of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) in addressing Australia’s housing challenges. The workshop brought together decision-makers from government, industry, research and design to discuss the policy, planning and investment settings needed to move modular housing from individual projects to reliable delivery at scale.

Hassell’s involvement reflects a broader industry recognition that Australia’s housing targets cannot be met through conventional delivery models alone, and that closer collaboration between design, research and manufacturing will be central to any credible solution.

Photo caption: Hassell studio, Sydney, Australia, the home of ThriveInspiration™ International Design Lab.

*SOURCE: National Housing Supply and Affordability Council (NHSAC), reported via ABC News (21 August 2026).

ABOUT THRIVEINSPIRATION™ INTERNATIONAL DESIGN LAB

The Design Lab brings together Thrive Inspiration™, Western Sydney University, Hassell and CSCEC Modular, backed by industry, government and community partners, to fast-track evidence-based innovation in affordable, modular housing.

ABOUT THRIVEINSPIRATION™

ThriveInspiration™ is a platform established by Thrive Alliance — a consortium led by Australian property developer Barrie Harrop — with China State Construction Engineering Corp (CSCEC) and research partner Western Sydney University. ThriveInspiration™ is focused on solving Australia’s housing affordability crisis through fast, sustainable, modular construction.

For information visit the Thrive Inspiration website