Nomad Building Solutions Limited News & Events

21 Jul 2011 - Emergency housing for earthquake survivors

In an effort to supply emergency housing for Japan earthquake survivors, Nomad and Halley Homes has quickly developed this capability.

The earthquake and ensuing tsunami off the coast of Japan on March 11, 2011 was the largest ever to hit Japan and resulted in significant loss of life and vast areas being devastated.  This included some 125,000 buildings, many of them homes of the survivors.

The response effort sprung into action immediately, and the Japanese Government called for tenders to supply up to 80,000 temporary transitional emergency houses to allow the rebuilding phase to commence.  Nomad Building, in association with Carter Holt Harvey and a Japanese Trading company and builder worked together to submit a tender.  The result was that this was the only Australian submission pre-approved by the government.

Nomad Building Solutions is an Australian publicly listed company which specialises in remote and regional development, construction, and project management across the country. 

The pre-construction of modular buildings to be transported to Japan is not an ideal scenario due to the increased space required; hence the evolution to a Panelised Building Solution.  Halley Homes and Nomad Modular Building used a new cabin design, targeted to local supply, to demonstrate their capability.  The design was completed and panels constructed in consultation with Carter Holt Harvey.

Then, with concrete blocks on the factory floor to act as foundations, the panel assembly was conducted in the space of just 2.5 hours using 3 people.  It was envisaged a roof and windows could be installed to complete a foundation to lock-up construction time of a single day.

With the prototype complete negotiations are ongoing to supply the first batch of homes into some of the worst affected areas.  The finish and quality of the construction ensure that the solution for Japanese earthquake victims will allow medium to long term comfortable housing to assist with the rebuild and help bring communities back together.