Dissertation on "Panelized and Modular Building Systems Is Less"

Dissertation 30 pages (9477 words) Sources: 40 Style: Harvard

[EXCERPT] . . . .

panelized and modular building systems is less common in the UK than abroad and the potential for this to provide a solution for future needs

Housing shortage after the Second World War, rising of housing demand and increase in the defective traditional houses prompt the UK government to adopt sustainable housing development. The major government aim is to improve the method the housing are being built in the UK to address the housing shortage and enhance cost effectiveness within the housing production. Additionally, the changing in the market forces for housing coupled with the planning policy is forcing the house-building industry to reconsider the approach they employ to build houses in the UK. More importantly, population increase in the UK within the last few decades coupled with the concern to improve the housing performances, have necessitated the need to employ Modern Method of Construction (MMC). (Pan, Gibb & Dainty 2005). Modern Methods of Construction is a range of technologies, which involves building houses with off-site assembly and/or prefabrication in a lesser time. (the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, 2005).

MMC is a kind of innovative system in the construction sector that allows house-builders to build houses with factory pre-fabricated materials at lesser time. Despite the sustainable method that the off-site technologies have introduced into the UK housing construction, the current level of housing production using offsite-MMC is generally low. (Pan, Gibb & Dainty 2005). In the UK, many homes are still being built using traditional brick and block system. National House Building estimates that only 10% of house builders are using panelized and modular building system to build houses. In other countries such as Japan, 40% of new housing is being built using MMC technique. In the Scandinavia countries, German and Japan, there is a much greater use of MMC for house building than the UK.

Fundamental aim of this study is to facilitate the industry and academic understanding on the concept and the use of panelized and modular building systems, and explore the fundamental factors leading to the low use of panelized and modular building system in the UK. To achieve the research aim, the study formulates the research objective to enhance greater understanding on the low use of MMC in the UK compared to other countries.

1.1: Research Objective

To investigate the factors leading to the low use of panelized and modular building system in the UK than other countries.

To provide potential solution for the increase in the use panelized and modular building system for housing building.

1.2: Research Questions

What are the leading factors for the low use of the panelized and modular building system in the UK compared to other countries?

Which countries have a higher use of the panelized and modular building system and the reasons for its higher use?

This study collects both primary and secondary research to answer the research questions and address the research objectives. By doing so, the study gains insight into the factors leading to the low use of panelized and modular building system in the UK. This research contributes to the body of MMC knowledge by identifying countries with higher use of MMC and major factors leading to its higher use than the UK.

1.3: Research Problem

"The UK house-building industry has often been criticized for failing to meet the housing needs of the country. The traditional craft-based build process is labor intensive with a long lead-time and is difficult to control for product quality. It is also not suitable for configurable designs that would help to customize the home, and the industry has been criticized for excessive standardization of its products. Attempts at industrialization, usually employing frame or panel-based build methods seen in many countries, have failed due mainly to lack of clear objectives. A change in build technology is also only one step in addressing the concerns of poor quality and lack of product variety." (Roy, Brown, Gaze, 2003 P. 137).

The impetus of using the offsite technologies for house building in the UK started after the First World War when the traditional house building could not meet the housing demand and there was a shortage of skilled labor within the house building construction sector. Few decades later, the success of pre-fabricated housing was questioned over the quality issues making the traditional housing dominating the housing markets. However, within the last few decades, the off-site housing system has enjoyed a return of market acceptability where market attention has focused on the prefabricated house building system. Despite the increase in the trend of offsite house-building system, the traditional housing still dominates the housing market in the UK making the current usage of offsite apartments to be low. The major driver leading to the low usage of offsite-MMC flats has been attributed to the high cost materials used to build off-site housing units. (Pan, Gibb & Dainty 2005). Factor leading to the comparative lower use of the off-site technologies for building houses in the UK compared to other countries generates research problem, which the study attempts to address. While there are number of studies that have explored the MMC in the UK in general, there are still scanty of studies that have explored the reason leading to the lower use of panelized and modular building systems in the UK construction industry compared to other countries. This studies attempts to fill this gap, and provides a comprehensive research on the factors leading to the lower use of panelized and modular building systems in the UK and recommends the strategy to increase the use of offsite technologies for house building in the UK.

1.4: Organization of the Study

The research is structured in six chapters:

Chapter 1 provides the introduction, the research objectives, research questions, and the research problems, the method the study is organized, theoretical lens and the research contributions.

Chapter 2 explores the literature review that attempts to answer the research question and achieve research objective. The study reviews the past studies to enhance greater understanding on the factor leading to the low use of panelized and modular building system in the UK compared to other countries. The study also reviews the literatures to access the attitudes of construction companies, Lenders, government, and Insurance companies to panelized and modular building system in the UK. Finally, the literatures are reviewed to investigate and identify the countries that have a higher use of panelized and modular building system, and the reason leading to its higher usage.

Chapter 3 provides the research methodology that reveals the method of data collection. Chapter 4 reveals the data analysis.

Chapter 5 provides the findings.

Chapter 6 provides the conclusion and recommendations.

1.5: Theoretical Lens

The study employs economic theory of supply and demand in explaining the general housing demand and supply in the UK. Wilson, (2010) argues that the housing supply is not keeping with the housing demand in the UK. At present, there are almost 1.8 million registered households in the UK leading to the "overcrowding in the private and social housing stocks." (P 1). With the shortage of housing units in the UK, the government estimates that there is a need for 240,000 additional homes by 2016.

1.6: Research Contribution

This study enhances the greater understanding of the UK construction industry on the technique to produce precast-MMC houses at lower costs.

The study also contributes to the body of knowledge on the factors leading to the low use of panelized and modular system for house building in the UK compared to other countries.

The study enhances the understanding of the academic community on the factors leading to the low use of panelized and modular system for house building in the UK.

The study also enhances the understanding of policy makers on the overall barrier facing the UK construction industry in the production of precast-MM C. housing and the strategy to increase its production.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

To build a necessary framework leading to the factor leading to the lower use of panelized and modular building system in the UK compared to other countries, the chapter reviews relevant MMC literatures. First, the study examines the overview of the panelized and modular building system in the UK. Second, the literature is reviewed to enhance greater understanding the factors leading to the low use of panelized modular building system in the UK. Third, a review of literature is done to enhance greater understanding on the attitudes of construction companies, lenders, and government and insurance companies towards the panelized and modular building system in the UK. Finally, this chapter reviews literatures to identify the countries having the higher use of panelized and modular building system. This chapter synthesizes the current body of knowledge on the panelized and modular building system in the UK.

2.1: Overview of Panelized and Modular Off-Site System

Modern Method of Construction (MMC) involves the use of housing parts offsite which are specially designed in a factory. The two major products of MMC:

2.1.1: Panelized Products

Panelized products… READ MORE

How to Reference "Panelized and Modular Building Systems Is Less" Dissertation in a Bibliography

Related Dissertations:

Systems Analyst Engineer at the System Level Research Proposal

Systems Engineering Roles

Evaluating Systems and Subsystems Engineering Roles:

A Comparative Analysis

The intent of this analysis is to evaluate the roles of system engineers including systems analysts relative to… read more

Research Proposal 10 pages (2741 words) Sources: 4 Topic: Engineering / Mechanics

---

Building Partnership Capacity and Logistics Essay

Building Partnership Capacity and Logistics

How logistics build partnership capacity

Programs of Building Partner Capacity (BPC) consist of programs for security and cooperation assistance financed by the U.S. government. These… read more

Essay 3 pages (1072 words) Sources: 3 Topic: Military / Army / Navy / Marines

---

System Analysis the Company Term Paper

4.125a + 8.25b + 12.375c + 10.428d + 26.540e 100

v. 30a + 15b + 45c + 20d + 50e 150

Objective function: 200 = 1.2a + 2.0b + 2.6c… read more

Term Paper 13 pages (3770 words) Sources: 0 Style: MLA Topic: Management / Organizations

---

Building Effective Customer Relationships Apple, Inc Term Paper

Building effective customer relationships- Apple Inc.

Interactive Marketing and Customer Relationships Management at Apple Inc.

The Interactive Marketing represents a wide set of strategies to be implemented in order to… read more

Term Paper 10 pages (3072 words) Sources: 12 Style: Harvard Topic: Advertising / Marketing / Sales

---

Building a Positive Classroom Environment in Early Childhood Education Thesis

Building a Positive Classroom Environment

Environment in Early Childhood Education: A Case Study

As important as teachers, curriculum, and a supportive home environment, the educational environment has a direct impact… read more

Thesis 2 pages (580 words) Sources: 4 Style: APA Topic: Education / Teaching / Learning

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>