prefabAUS People

Our Board of Directors deals with the governance and overall direction of prefabAUS.

They all volunteer their time to the organisation and are passionate about the role that prefabricated building technologies play in the future of our built environment. The Board currently comprises the individuals listed below.

Our Executive Chair is responsible for the day to day control and management of prefabAUS and is also a Director on the Board.

Executive Chair

Damien Crough is a founding Director, and sees strong opportunities for the industry to set itself apart by providing low waste, high quality, sustainable and design led alternatives. As Managing Director of Advanced Offsite Group, Damien has been involved a range of medium to high density modular housing projects. He also understands the importance of research and development collaborations following the participation of Unitised Building (UB) in a number of projects with the University of Melbourne exploring issues such as advanced manufacturing technologies and embodied energy.

…and in alphabetical order…

Rob Colquhoun is one of our founding Directors.  He is also a Director of two prefabrication companies which operate Australia wide: Prebuilt which provides design-led prefab homes, and Precom which focuses on commercial solutions to corporate clients.  An engineer by training, Rob has extensive experience in development management, manufacturing and corporate governance, in addition to his passion for quality building prefabrication.

Brad Denison is a highly experienced and driven senior business leader with a strong financial background. Extensive track record in commercial construction with clients in the government, mining and commercial sectors. Substantial experience in successful multi party projects, developing innovative capital structuring solutions and implementing significant merger and acquisition transactions

Brad is a founding director of Development Solutions Australia. DSA solves problems for people or companies looking to develop land or construction projects. Key capabilities are in project finance, offsite construction and marketing.

Joyce Ferng is a seasoned professional with over 27 years of expertise in delivering structurally complex and challenging projects across the Middle East, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Singapore. Joyce's commitment to industry advancement extends beyond her project achievements. She is a staunch advocate of the offsite approach. As a PrefabAUS Board Member since 2017, Joyce advocates for industry-academic collaboration. Her tenure has witnessed significant strides in bridging the gap between the two domains. Notably, her leadership as Chair of the Melbourne University CAMP.H initiative and her role on the Technical Advisory Committee underscore her commitment to elevating industry-academic relationships. Her position as an Adjunct Industry Fellow at Swinburne University and her participation in CRC research projects highlight her dedication to advancing offsite sustainable technologies.

David Haller is the National Operations Manager of the Masterplanned Communities construction division at Mirvac Group. David has been in the construction industry for over 25 years and has spent the last 19 years at Mirvac. During his tenure at Mirvac, David has consistently looked to improve the efficiency of the construction business through well planned innovations. Over the past 8 years David has led the Mirvac housing business in adopting prefabrication as a construction methodology to improve all aspects of the construction business through strategic development and implementation of process framework and governance, which has enabled Mirvac to deliver prefab solutions for construction and ultimately deliver higher performing homes for its customers.

James Heffernan is an experienced and highly motivated business leader with a demonstrated history of working in the construction and manufacturing industries. James has extensive experience in the modular construction industry and is the General Manager at Modularity by Rendine, an emerging leader in the Modular construction industry. With experience across many construction sectors including education, housing, commercial and industrial James offers valuable insight and holds both a Bachelor of Construction Management (Honours) and a Master of Business Administration.

Paul Kremer’s work covers a diverse portfolio of prebuild and panelised construction technology. His work at XLam supported the establishing the first Cross Laminated Timber(CLT) plants in Australia and New Zealand. Paul is an accomplished CEO and holds several academic appointments including, as an Adjunct Associate Professor in Engineering atDeakin University andResearch Fellow at the University of Melbourne in InfrastructureEngineering. Paul’s contribution on several prefabricated construction steering committees culminated in the development of important frameworks for education and training programs, which are significantly transforming and modernising the construction sector. His industry/research interests include construction law in the emerging technologies sector and prefabricated construction systems/strategy development and integration.

John Lucchetti is a founding director of Collective Engineering. Prior to that, he was a director in one of Australia’s Leading Tier 1 consulting firms.

John is an active contributor to the construction industry through various industry body involvement, including currently holding positions as committee member on PCA (Victoria) Commercial Office Committee and as a director at PrefabAUS.

John brings particular insight from the community of innovators he has worked alongside in science, design, technology and engineering for almost two decades.

Prof Tuan Ngo is the Research Director of the ARC Training Centre for Advanced Manufacturing of Prefabricated Housing (CAMPH) at the University of Melbourne. He is also the Director of the Asia Pacific Research Network for Resilient and Affordable Housing. Over the last 20 years, he has carried out significant research collaborations with industry to develop new building materials and systems and perform R&D experiments of prefabricated modular building structures. Prof Ngo has won a number of prestigious scientific awards, including the prestigious Eureka Science Prize for Outstanding Science in Safeguarding Australia in 2013. He has been working as an expert on many projects to protect critical buildings against extreme events (blasts, impacts, fires and earthquakes).

Nick Strongman is the Chief Executive Officer of Sensum, a project management and consulting firm that specialises in offsite construction. Under Nick’s leadership, Sensum has established a successful track record for delivering building projects in Victoria and South Australia. With more than nine years in the industry, Nick has comprehensive knowledge of offsite construction, project delivery and what is required to successfully market and deliver building services for government. Nick specialises in public sector, government and social infrastructure projects. He understands the unique market opportunities for prefabrication in this sector, and he uses modern building solutions to meet the diverse needs of multiple stakeholders, tight delivery timeframes, and/or budgetary constraints.

Gary Caulfield

Gary’s contribution to the Australasian Construction Sector over the last sixteen years has been enormous. His tireless drive to reimagine design, procurement and construction always with a view of embracing offsite fabrication, improving safety, increasing productivity and reducing risk was respected and admired by all who had the privilege of working with him.

Gary was a dedicated and well-respected Director of prefabAUS for the past three years. His drive, passion and determination was insatiable and he was instrumental in propelling prefabAUS forward. His dedicated holistic approach to the prefab industry is a credit to the man he was.

Sue Rolland

PrefabAUS is saddened to hear the passing of one our founding directors, Sue Rolland. Sue was an early contributor and helped establish prefabAUS in 2013 through her industry connections as co-owner of KL Modular Systems Australia (KLMSA) from 2007-2022.

Sue was instrumental in developing our strategic direction and very generous by contributing financially to help kickstart prefabAUS, she will be greatly missed and always remembered.