Assembly OSM builds prefabricated skyscrapers like Boeing builds airplanes

Assembly OSM is a modular construction startup that operates more like a car and plane manufacturer than a traditional builder. As a result, the company claims it can cut more carbon emissions than most green builders today.

Real estate accounts for 40% of global carbon emissions, including all processes from construction to operation and inevitable destruction. Reducing the time it takes to construct a building and reducing the number of workers and vehicles required on site can reduce these emissions. Unlike other prefabricated builders who mainly do low-rise assembly, he focuses on high-rise buildings of 10-30 storeys. This would have the greatest impact on both the current housing shortage and climate change.

“We’re actually using aerospace tools to design these buildings, so we’re modeling them in more detail,” explains CEO Andrew Staniforth.

The four-year-old company uses the same software as Boeing to design and construct buildings piecemeal at multiple specialty factories.

“We’re really looking at the way cars and planes are built, where there’s a very robust decentralized supply chain,” Staniforth said. “Where aerospace people are making wings and engines and fuselages, there are people making bathroom pods, kitchen pods, floors, walls, ceilings, and they’re going to have these things in the facility like this. Just put it together and clip it on.”

off site The company claims that assembly reduces the number of fuel-burning trucks required on site, resulting in a 70% reduction in these emissions. The building itself is both lightweight and airtight, thus reducing subsequent emissions from heating and cooling. Overall, he claims to achieve 30-40% embodied his carbon over the building’s lifecycle.

Unlike other modular house builders such as Katerra, which filed for bankruptcy last year, Assembly uses a large network of suppliers and manufacturers in various locations rather than building in one particular factory. .

Matt Higgins, CEO and co-founder of RSE Ventures, one of the company’s investors, said: “You are talking about an industry that is very resistant to change and innovation and is dominated by entrenched players. and basically starting from scratch almost from scratch.It’s like what Tesla did, and what Elon Musk did.”

Assembly costs about the same as traditional construction, but faster. That’s what the market is asking for now.

“When it comes to embodied carbon, how buildings perform throughout their lifecycle, many of these conveniences have very quickly turned into necessities for developers in major urban markets,” Staniforth said. ”, he said.

The company will initially focus on apartments and hotels, with plans to build first projects in New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Los Angeles.

Assembly OSM backers include Fifth Wall Climate, Jefferies Group, Manta Ray Ventures, FJ labs, RSE Ventures and Signia Venture Partners. Raised $62 million.

CNBC Climate Producer Lisa Rizzolo contributed to this piece.