Schedule risks in prefabrication housing production in Hong Kong: a social network analysis

Abstract

Various schedule risks beset prefabrication housing production (PHP) in Hong Kong throughout the prefabrication supply chain, from design, manufacturing, logistics, to on-site assembly. Previous research on the risks in prefabrication construction projects has mainly focused on the construction stage and has been confined to issues of completeness and accuracy without consideration of stakeholder-related risks and their cause-and-effect relationships.However, in reality, the supply chain is inseparable as precast components should be manufactured and transported to sites to fit in with the schedule of on-site assembly in seamless connection manner, and most risks are interrelated and associated with various stakeholders.This study applies social network analysis (SNA) to recognize and investigate the underlying network of stakeholder-associated risk factors in prefabrication housing construction projects.Critical risks and relationships that have important roles in structuring the entire network of PHP are identified and analyzed. BIM (Building Information Modelling)-centered strategies are proposed to facilitate stakeholder communication and mitigate critical schedule risks and interactions underlying the risk network. This study not only provides an effective method to analyze stakeholder-associated risk factors and to evaluate the effect of these risk factors from a network perspective, but also offers a new visual perspective in the promotion of the use of the Internet of things (IoT) and helps identify housing construction problems in Hong Kong.

Critical Success Factors for Project Planning and Control in Prefabrication Housing Production: A China Study

“…This questionnaire was distributed to 400 professionals (designers, manufacturers, and contractors). They are the main actors in the supply chain of PHP and have a significant influence on PP&C of PHP [11,13]. A total of 136 valid responses were obtained, including 42 from designers, 43 from manufacturers, and 51 from contractors.…”

“…Designers, manufacturers, and contractors involved in the PHP are the three main stakeholders in the supply chain [11,13]. For the contractor, the manufacturer is the supplier that provides prefabricated components.…”

Evaluating the Efficiency of Industrialization Process in Prefabricated Residential Buildings Using a Fuzzy Multicriteria Decision-Making Method

“…If factor is the benefit indicator (namely, the more, the better), its normalized formula is shown as (8), whereas, if factor is the cost indicator (namely, the less, the better), its normalization is shown as (9).…”

“…Distinct from conventional cast-in situ construction, prefabrication involves a set of construction technologies and processes, through which building components are manufactured in a controlled environment, transported, and assembled on the job-site in order to minimize site works [3,4]. A variety of interchangeable terms are associated with housing that uses the prefabrication technology, such as off-site construction [5], modular housing [6], industrialized building [3,7], modern methods of construction [8], and prefabrication housing [9]. In this study, "prefabricated residential building (PRB)" is used to represent residential buildings that use prefabrication technologies [10].…”

Exploring the Determinants of Migrant Workers’ Willingness to Buy Houses in Cities: A Case Study in Xi’an, China

“…It is meaningful for migrant workers to buy houses in cities, as this will not only help them integrate into city life, but also stabilize their jobs. If migrant worker's non-agricultural income increases and their opportunities for working in cities tend to stabilize, then they will be more willing to transfer their land use rights and quit their rural residential lands [2], after all, social and economic costs are undoubtedly tied to this type of housing production [3]. Thus, this study of the effect of the mechanism of quitting rural residential land with compensation on the willingness of migrant workers to buy houses in the city can, on the one hand, help avoid rural residential lands standing idle and phenomena like "one household, multiple housing lands" or even "rural hollowing"; on the other hand, migrant workers can make full use of their idle rural assets, which will help them buy houses in cities, since they have more money [4][5][6].…”