Offsite Construction: An Opportunity for Improving Risk Management

Offsite construction has now reached sufficient maturity to evidence significant improvements for construction projects. However, as this relatively new methodology to ‘traditional’ construction approaches, a number of new internal, external and project risks need to be evaluated; in particular, the disparities of traditional construction risk with offsite construction risk. This poses significant challenges, as a deeper and more meaningful understanding is often highly dependent on ‘conventional thinking’ versus ‘new/innovative thinking’ required for offsite. Acknowledging this tension, this research evaluates the different points between traditional construction risk and offsite construction risk. This paper proffers initial findings based on a literature review using qualitative analysis. Findings indicate that risk definition and assessment of construction process still needs further focus; particularly on the unique offsite processes, where risk categorisation requires additional work to support intrinsic verifiable solutions.