How do we solve the housing delivery problem?

RCP Australia is a business working across major development and infrastructure projects in South East Queensland, and I left reflecting on a different question: Are we spending enough time talking about housing delivery rather than simply housing supply? We are certainly concentrating on delivery more, but I still don’t think hard enough.

Housing supply discussions often focus on planning approvals, funding and housing targets. These are all important. But many of the real constraints emerge further downstream:
• Contractor and consultant capacity constraints


• Skilled labour shortages


• Increasing delivery complexity and compliance requirements


• Competition for resources from major infrastructure programs and Olympic-related investment


• Procurement and risk allocation models that can unintentionally reduce market participation

In many respects, the challenge is no longer simply determining what and where desperately needed housing gets built. It is determining how we can consistently deliver projects efficiently, at scale and with greater certainty.

Early contractor involvement, collaborative delivery models, appropriate risk allocation and procurement strategies aligned to market conditions can significantly improve delivery certainty, competition and value.

There is no single procurement model that works for every project. The most successful projects are often those where the delivery strategy is deliberately aligned with the project's objectives, complexity, market conditions and risk profile.

If Queensland is serious about increasing housing supply, we need to focus not only on approvals, funding and policy settings, but also on the capability, capacity and procurement frameworks that enable projects to move from concept to completed homes.

The housing conversation now needs to be about procurement strategies and industry capacity required to actually deliver.

Unfortunately, I am involved in too many conversations that suggest the problem is too big to deal with in the short term. That will only prove to be if we accept it, and I choose not to and encourage you not to as well.