A Narrative Review of Workspace Planning in Construction: Challenges and Insights

Abstract

Space on construction sites is not abundant as may be thought. In fact, workspace planning could become increasingly challenging at times. Moreover, improper workspace planning may lead to congestion and, hence, potential safety and productivity issues. Workspace planning aligns with Lean thinking through reducing wastes in workers' productivity, waiting time, double handling, and different types of flow. Meanwhile, there is generally a scarcity of research studies in this area especially in industrial projects. As such, this paper presents a narrative literature review of research conducted on workspace planning in construction. Specifically, the review aims to answer the following questions: What is a workspace? What are some methods used for workspace planning? What are the challenges faced in workspace planning? What decisions are essential for workspace planning? The last question tackles fundamental concepts in workspace planning such as flow types, area patterns, workspace classification structure, and spatial-temporal conflict identification and resolution. The study concludes with considerations to be scrutinized and adopted during the process of developing a well-thought-off workspace planning system.