Australia currently lacks 300,000 skilled workers, and the prefabricated housing industry is particularly hard hit, according to Crow.
"We're not attracting as many young people to skilled jobs as we used to, and all these factors are pushing us toward what's called 'industrialized construction,'" Crow said.
"We're leveraging technology, especially digital technology, to move toward what we call the 'Fourth Industrial Revolution,' a stage that most other industries in the world have already entered.
"If you look at the automotive and aerospace engineering sectors, they've been using digital technology to design and deliver cars and airplanes for decades, and now it's our turn in the construction industry to do the same." Crow stated that the industry needs not only traditional skilled workers like plumbers and electricians, but also software engineers and various other specialists.
"Artificial intelligence will definitely be a significant part of this, and we're also seeing technologies like robotics, automation, and 3D printing entering the industry," Crow said.
"This is a pretty exciting time, and everyone knows that this industry will be completely different in three to five years." A national centre of excellence for future housing construction, funded by the Victorian and federal governments, will open in 2029 at the Melbourne Institute of Technology in Heidelberg. New South Wales' TAFE college is considering a similar $400 million facility in Wollongong, while Queensland and Western Australia are also exploring various options.
