Winner 2025 Victorian HIA Modular and Prefabricated Housing Award
- jmbmodular
- Mar 5
- 3 min read
As published by Built Offsite
JMB Modular Building has been named the winner of the 2025 Housing Industry Association (HIA) Victoria Housing Award in the Modular and Prefabricated Housing category. The awards ceremony took place on 7 November at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The annual HIA Housing Awards recognise construction and design excellence across Victoria’s residential building sector. Categories include Affordable Housing, Custom Built Home, GreenSmart Sustainable Home, Project Home and Townhouse Development, alongside Modular and Prefabricated Housing. Each category is judged on workmanship, design effectiveness, environmental performance, market appeal and innovation.
The Modular and Prefabricated Housing category specifically recognises quality and innovation in offsite building. Judging criteria allocate 50 points to workmanship, 20 to design and sustainability, and 15 each to visual appeal and innovation. Entries were inspected onsite between June and August, with judges selecting finalists and winners based on technical performance and construction quality.
This year’s Modular and Prefabricated Housing award went to JMB Modular Building for its Lemnos display home, located at the company’s factory site in Shepparton. The single-storey modular dwelling features two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, European laundry and open-plan living area within a 60 square metre floor plan. The builder demonstrated precision and expertise in delivering and installing the home on site as a single, fully completed 35-tonne structure. Judges highlighted the precision of its construction, polished concrete floors and raked ceilings, noting that the building demonstrated how modular design can achieve a high architectural standard.
Managing Director James Briggs said the Lemnos home was designed to challenge preconceptions about modular construction. “We wanted to show what was possible with modular building, and prove all those public perceptions wrong, showing that modular building can be strong, beautiful and superior to conventional building,” he said.
Built to a high specification, the dwelling includes a polished concrete slab poured and finished offsite, recycled red brick cladding and a cathedral ceiling with multiple rooflines. The module was transported and installed without damage, with only light fittings and blinds installed after delivery.
JMB Modular Building was established in Shepparton in 2008 as JMB Constructions, initially operating as a conventional builder before shifting to modular construction. Briggs said the change was driven by a need for scalability and control. “I realised I’d created something that wasn’t sellable, scalable or sustainable,” he said. “Everything relied on me and my registration. I needed to get everything inside four walls and find a way to make the business sustainable and scalable.”
Over time, the company developed its own production systems and manufacturing methods, drawing on techniques from aerospace and shipbuilding to improve precision and workflow. The Shepparton facility now reflects that direction, housing a fully planned modular production line with capacity for multi-level projects and repeatable builds.
The company’s new factory, also in Shepparton, incorporates a moving production line divided into eight workstations. Modules progress through each stage, beginning with structural steel fabrication and moving through framing, services and fit-out. The process applies industrial manufacturing principles to housing, allowing tighter quality control and greater consistency.
The Lemnos display home forms part of a broader plan to demonstrate how modular construction can meet a range of housing needs, from regional accommodation to multi-storey projects. JMB Modular Building has also undertaken social and worker housing developments supported through both philanthropic and government-funded programs. Its Shepparton site operates under a seven-year, five-stage master plan designed to expand capacity as demand increases.
The 2025 HIA award acknowledges the high standard of workmanship and design achieved in the Lemnos display home and reflects JMB Modular Building’s continued focus on applying industrialised manufacturing to modular housing.
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