Barriers to promoting prefabricated construction in China : a cost-benefit analysis

Abstract Prefabricated construction has attracted worldwide concern because of its significant role in the creation of sustainable urbanization. In Mainland China, the practice of applying prefabrication technology in the construction industry still lags behind. In fact, the economic benefit is a key concern of various stakeholders involved in the construction process and is expected to influence the delivery of prefabricated buildings significantly. Therefore, this study established a cost–benefit analysis framework to explore the basic cost composition of prefabrication and examined the effect of adopting prefabrication on the total cost of real building projects. Results show that the concrete and steel used in the typical prefabricated components were responsible for 26% to 60% of the total cost, followed by labor cost (17%–30%) and transportation (10%). The average incremental cost is highly linearly correlated with the prefabrication rate, which ranged from 237 yuan/m2 to 437 yuan/m2, in eight building projects. To fully gain the economic benefits from the precast construction, the future focus should lie in providing financial support for promoting the development of prefabrication technology, optimizing the structure integrity of prefabricated buildings, and improving the maturity of the precast market.

[1]  Yi Peng,et al.  Exploring the challenges to industrialized residential building in China , 2014 .

[2]  Richard Sause,et al.  A review and analysis of modular construction practices , 1994 .

[3]  Wei Pan,et al.  Demystifying the cost barriers to offsite construction in the UK , 2011 .

[4]  Geoffrey Qiping Shen,et al.  Critical review of the research on the management of prefabricated construction , 2014 .

[5]  Gul Polat,et al.  Factors Affecting the Use of Precast Concrete Systems in the United States , 2008 .

[6]  R. Reed,et al.  Factors impeding the offsite production of housing construction in China: an investigation of current practice , 2014 .

[7]  Karen Manley,et al.  Exploring the beliefs of Australian prefabricated house builders , 2016 .

[8]  Wei Pan,et al.  Maintenance cost implications of utilizing bathroom modules manufactured offsite , 2008 .

[9]  Vivian W. Y Tam,et al.  Critical factors in effective construction waste minimization at the design stage: A Shenzhen case study, China , 2014 .

[10]  Ray Y. Zhong,et al.  Towards Physical Internet-enabled prefabricated housing construction in Hong Kong , 2015 .

[11]  David Arditi,et al.  Diffusion of ISO 9000 certification in the precast concrete industry , 2006 .

[12]  Andrew R.J. Dainty,et al.  Perspectives of UK housebuilders on the use of offsite modern methods of construction , 2007 .

[13]  Chao Mao,et al.  Risk factors affecting practitioners’ attitudes toward the implementation of an industrialized building system: A case study from China , 2015 .

[14]  Chi Sun Poon,et al.  Sustainable construction aspects of using prefabrication in dense urban environment: a Hong Kong case study , 2008 .

[15]  Malik M.A. Khalfan,et al.  Current State of Off-Site Manufacturing in Australian and Chinese Residential Construction , 2014 .

[16]  M. Arif,et al.  Making a case for offsite construction in China , 2010 .

[17]  Jalan Pahang,et al.  BARRIERS TO INDUSTRIALIZED BUILDING SYSTEM (IBS): THE CASE OF MALAYSIA , 2009 .

[18]  Wei Pan,et al.  Major Barriers to Off-Site Construction: The Developer’s Perspective in China , 2015 .

[19]  Chi Sun Poon,et al.  The evolution of prefabricated residential building systems in Hong Kong: A review of the public and the private sector , 2009 .

[20]  Cs Poon,et al.  A guide for managing and minimizing building and demolition waste , 2016 .

[21]  Joseph Schoenborn,et al.  A Case Study Approach to Identifying the Constraints and Barriers to Design Innovation for Modular Construction , 2012 .

[22]  Jun Wang,et al.  Cost analysis for sustainable off-site construction based on a multiple-case study in China , 2016 .

[23]  Wafaa Nadim,et al.  Offsite Production in the UK: The Way Forward?, A UK Construction Industry Perspective , 2010 .

[24]  Taehoon Hong,et al.  An integrated evaluation of productivity, cost and CO2 emission between prefabricated and conventional columns , 2017 .

[25]  Jeffrey M Molavi,et al.  A Construction Procurement Method to Achieve Sustainability in Modular Construction , 2016 .

[26]  Weisheng Lu,et al.  Investigating waste reduction potential in the upstream processes of offshore prefabrication construction , 2013 .

[27]  Vivian W. Y Tam,et al.  Towards adoption of prefabrication in construction , 2007 .

[28]  Malik M.A. Khalfan,et al.  Off-Site Construction of Apartment Buildings , 2013 .

[29]  Heng Li,et al.  Rethinking prefabricated construction management using the VP‐based IKEA model in Hong Kong , 2011 .

[30]  Alistair G.F. Gibb,et al.  Benefit evaluation for off‐site production in construction , 2006 .

[31]  Chi Sun Poon,et al.  Design issues of using prefabrication in Hong Kong building construction , 2010 .

[32]  E. Chan,et al.  Prefabrication and barriers to entry—a case study of public housing and institutional buildings in Hong Kong , 2006 .

[33]  Geoffrey Qiping Shen,et al.  Life-cycle energy analysis of prefabricated building components: an input–output-based hybrid model , 2016 .

[34]  Andrew N. Baldwin,et al.  Designing out waste in high-rise residential buildings : analysis of precasting methods and traditional construction , 2009 .

[35]  Qiping Shen,et al.  Comparative study of greenhouse gas emissions between off-site prefabrication and conventional construction methods: Two case studies of residential projects , 2013 .

[36]  Geoffrey Qiping Shen,et al.  Measuring the impact of prefabrication on construction waste reduction: An empirical study in China , 2014 .

[37]  Martin Skitmore,et al.  Industrialized housing in China: a coin with two sides , 2012 .

[38]  Giovanni Andrea Blengini,et al.  Life cycle of buildings, demolition and recycling potential: A case study in Turin, Italy , 2009 .

[39]  Stephen O. Ogunlana,et al.  Best practice of prefabrication implementation in the Hong Kong public and private sectors , 2015 .

[40]  Eugenia Gasparri,et al.  Construction management for tall CLT buildings: From partial to total prefabrication of façade elements , 2015 .

[41]  Mohd Sapuan Salit,et al.  The essential characteristics of industrialised building system , 2003 .

[42]  John Meiling,et al.  A study of a plan-do-check-act method used in less industrialized activities: two cases from industrialized housebuilding , 2014 .

[43]  Weisheng Lu,et al.  Scenarios for applying RFID technology in construction project management , 2011 .

[44]  Andrew R.J. Dainty,et al.  Strategies for integrating the use of off-site production technologies in house building , 2012 .