California Construction News special feature
Offsite construction industry stakeholders and potential end-users of all stripes are set to gather again in Berkeley for the Offsite Construction Summit on June 5.
Hosted by the University of California – Berkeley and presented by the Offsite Construction Network and the Modular Building Institute, this latest summit will offer a full day of invaluable networking and discussion about the potential for modular and offsite construction in California and up and down the West Coast.
The full-day event will feature speakers from around California and neighboring states. The speaker line-up, which features company leaders and design professionals from across the offsite spectrum, will address a variety of topics critical to the future of offsite, modular, and prefab construction in California and across the United States.
Upcoming speakers include:
- Lynn von Koch-Liebert, executive director, California Strategic Growth Council
- Stuart Emmons, principal, Emmons Design
- Jim Dunn, president, Stack Modular
- Rick Murdock, CEO and co-founder, Autovol
- Randall Thompson, senior preconstruction manager, NibbiPrefab
The 2024 Offsite Construction Summit in Berkeley follows a similar successful event held at UC-Berkeley in October, 2023.
That event, which itself offered an outstanding line-up of speakers and ample time for exhibitors to connect with attendees, was well-attended by potential end users of offsite construction methodologies, local and regional stakeholders, and the region’s leading offsite manufacturers, designers, developers, and suppliers.
One such designer, architect Stuart Emmons, principal at Emmons Design, presented “System Thinking to Increase Affordable Housing” in 2023. That session—one of six presented throughout the day—focused on putting together a successful, replicable modular affordable housing project.
“[The entire event] was first class,” said Emmons of last year’s Summit. “I think everyone got a lot out of it.”
ModCribs, an industry start-up offering an innovative new modular cribbing solution, was one of dozens of exhibitors in 2023 and plans to return in 2024. “It was a great show!” said Amanda Alexander, ModCribs’ business development manager. “I loved the layout. We definitely walked away with some leads today.”
With the explosion of interest in offsite and prefabricated construction, the offsite construction industry across California and throughout the country are being called upon to deliver projects ranging from permanent multistory housing developments to mobile health clinics. This Offsite Construction Summit will be the perfect opportunity for end users in and around California to meet the region’s leading offsite manufacturers, designers, developers, and suppliers.
Registration is open now at offsiteconstructionnetwork.com/berkeley-2024
Image caption: Vamsi Kumar Kotla and Ryan Blowers, co-founders of ReMo Homes, addressed their company’s effort to combat the housing crisis across California at the 2023 Offsite Construction Summit in Berkeley. This year’s event will feature a new slate of expert speakers.