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Offsite construction (OSC) is fragmented and involves a complex network of stakeholders in all the stages such as planning, design, legal approval, site preparation, modular manufacturing, transportation, storage, and onsite installation. The barriers include complexity of the process; lack of awareness; supply chain challenges in capacity and knowledge; cultural perception; lack of viable business process models or solutions; scarcity of skills in design/manufacturing/construction and lack of government regulations and legislation. This study, therefore, categorises the barriers according to political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal (PESTEL) analysis. The PESTEL analysis aims at providing organisations a comprehensive list of all the external barriers against the adoption of offsite construction. A wholistic list of all the barriers and understanding the barriers will help them to improve the overall productivity and contribute to the economy metrics. Utilising popular databases, including Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, a systematic literature review of 56 papers relevant to OSC adoptions in the construction industry research was conducted. From the review, the barriers to the adoption of OSC in the construction research and relevant organisations reports were identified. The research shows that countries such as Australia, UK, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and New Zealand have been the top countries in which papers on OSC were published. A relationship analysis shows that political barriers amounting to 5 out of the 101 barriers identified having the most causal effects on the low adoption of OSC.

This research delves into the intricate realm of social housing flat units within tower blocks in Leicester, as a microcosm that serves as a perfect reflection of the larger problem of fuel poverty among social housing systems within the UK. The multifaceted approach intertwines energy efficiency upgrades, indoor comfort, and resident satisfaction. Rooted in a comprehensive methodology, this research seeks to address pressing societal challenges within these architectural projects, from fuel poverty and well-being to environmental sustainability and social justice. Through surveys, interviews, audits, simulations, and detailed analyses of summer and winter thermal performance, this study navigates the complex interplay of factors that influence retrofit success. The findings underscore the transformative potential of comprehensive retrofit measures and the paramount importance of resident engagement while offering a potential holistic checklist for future projects. This research paves the way for future studies encompassing contextual diversity, interdisciplinary collaboration, and long-term impact assessment. As it advances, these findings guide the commitment to fostering positive change, enhancing lives, and contributing to a more sustainable and equitable future in social housing retrofit endeavours.

This book collates the main research developments around Lean Construction over the past 25 years with contributions from many seminal authors in the field. It takes stock of developments since the publication of Koskela's (1992) Application of the New Production Philosophy to Construction and, in doing so, challenges current thinking and progress. It also crystallises theoretical conceptualisations and practically situated learning whilst identifying future research challenges, agendas and opportunities for global collaborative actions. The contributors present the development of Lean Construction as a fundamental part of improving construction productivity, quality and delivery of value to clients and users of built infrastructure. In doing so, the book introduces the reader to the foundational principles and theories that have influenced the way we now understand Lean Construction and has provided very useful insights to students, practitioners and researchers on key junctures over the last 25 years. Highlighting the key contemporary developments and using global case study material the chapters demonstrate good practice but also help introduce new thinking to both lay readers and experienced practitioners alike. This book is essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers and practitioners with an interest in Lean Construction and construction management, providing a general understanding of the area, current state of the art knowledge as well as providing an insight to areas for future research.

The complexity of construction processes often means interaction between various stakeholders, activities and tasks in order to deliver the expected outcomes. The intensity and dynamics of front-end design (FED) mean decision techniques and methods are important in supporting projects benefits delivery more importantly those based on utility of decision making. This paper explores a new utilitarian decision-making approach based on a systematic literature review of FED decision making. It presents the state of the art in design decision making concepts and analysis of tools over the last 10 years (2009–2019). From a total of 111 peer-reviewed journal papers, fifteen decision-making techniques are identified as dominant in design decision making, broadly grouped in four major categories as explanatory/rational, Multi Criteria Decision Making techniques (MCDM), Hybrid and Visual methods. The review finds that the most applied of the MCDM is Quality Function Deployment (QFD); while among the rational/explanatory techniques is set-based design (SBD). While there is limited application of Multi Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) in decision making, the paper finds that the robust consistency and structured approach better captures the intricate dynamics of FED; including modelling of the subjectivity, interdependences and uncertainty in design discourse.

The recent notable emergence of a body of research in requirements management on one hand and benefits realisation has contributed to addressing a growing need for improved performance in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) projects. However, front end design (FED) as one of the vital processes in the project life cycle and delivery has attracted limited research to date within this understanding. This paper aims to map current evidence on requirements management in facilitating benefits realisation from an FED perspective. This is to bring about an updated and unified position on requirements management for its impact on design decision making. A systematic review of the literature covering the last ten years (2008–2018) aims first to build understanding and support identification of these emergent conceptual positions and secondly underscore essential requirements and their categorisations that impact on design discourse in FED. One hundred sixty-one peer-reviewed journal papers in the areas of benefits realisation and/or requirements management and/or FED based are identified on a pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thirty-six requirements are identified as important in influencing use case changes important in design decision making broadly grouped into nine major categories. Following analysis, this research finds little evidence supporting an integrated requirements management practice and understanding to support design decision making. The research further finds bias in current research discourse towards four requirements categories (technical, economics, governance and environment); and 14 requirements, dominated by three strategic values, collaboration and project governance, with over 80% share of literature. The least 14 requirements such as “flow of spaces, social status/aspiration, mobility and integrated design” among others only account for less than 10% of literature. The authors argue for new research to bridge this gap, highlight the essential role of requirements management and broaden understanding to improve benefits realisation, particularly for FED processes.

Purpose Industry 4.0 is exacerbating the need for offsite construction (OSC) adoption, and this rapid transformation is pushing the boundaries of construction skills towards extensive modernisation. The adoption of this modern production strategy by the construction industry would redefine the position of OSC. This study aims to examine whether the existing skills are capable of satisfying the needs of different OSC types. Design/methodology/approach A critical literature review evaluated the impact of transformative technology on OSC skills. An existing industry standard OSC skill classification was used as the basis to develop a master list that recognises emerging and diminishing OSC skills. The master list recognises 67 OSC skills under six skill categories: managers, professionals, technicians and trade workers, clerical and administrative workers, machinery operators and drivers and labourers. The skills data was extracted from a series of 13 case studies using document reviews and semi-structured interviews with project stakeholders. Findings The multiple case study evaluation recognised 13 redundant skills and 16 emerging OSC skills such as architects with building information modelling and design for manufacture and assembly knowledge, architects specialised in design and logistics integration, advanced OSC technical skills, factory operators, OSC estimators, technicians for three dimensional visualisation and computer numeric control operators. Interview findings assessed the current state and future directions for OSC skills development. Findings indicate that the prevailing skills are not adequate to readily relocate construction activities from onsite to offsite. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is one of the first studies that recognises the major differences in skill requirements for non-volumetric and volumetric OSC types.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework that categorises the features and characteristics of the built environment that impact on health outcomes.Design methodology approach - An extensive literature review was carried out. A total of 1,163 abstracts were assessed, leading to 92 papers being reviewed.Findings - There is a considerable amount of evidence linking healthcare environments to patients' health outcomes, despite the lack of clarity in relation to cause-effect relationships.Originality value - The paper proposes a theoretical framework linking different built environment characteristics to health outcomes. This framework provides a structure to group causal effects according to their relation with design features, materials and ambient properties, art and aesthetic aspects and use of the built environment.

To deliver a construction project on time, at cost and of appropriate quality, it is critical to manage the design and construction process effectively...This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the field of process management in design and construction in order to meet the business needs of the construction industry as they change in.

In the Lean Construction literature, there are three main activities involved in the design of a production system: Production System Design (PSD), Phase Scheduling (PS) and Work Structuring (WS). These are deployed in Lean projects in different contexts, and their aim is to minimise waste, increase value and deliver the project. The tools recommended by the Lean community to designing Lean production systems include Location-based Scheduling (LBS). LBS is a term used in construction planning for techniques such as Line of Balance (LOB), Flowline (FL) and Takt-Time Planning (TTP) due to their emphasis on scheduling activities based on location. Although these techniques have been in use by Lean Construction practitioners and academics, there is still a need to fully understand their capabilities. In this chapter, clarification will be given on the three activities used to design production systems, descriptions of the three LBS tools and a comparative analysis of them. Finally, there will be discussions about the appropriate contextual application of the LBS techniques in the production system design activities that are expressed through a novel conceptual framework. This chapter was developed based on the literature review of the main terms and tools applied for production system design and location-based scheduling. The activities to design Lean production systems were compared regarding the focus of designing activities; collaboration for decision-making; project stage when it is developed; and the output for production planning and control. The authors also carried out a comparative analysis of visual representation of the plan; network used to devise the plan and what the activities pace represents; types of buffers used and the balancing process; and the contextual deployment of the LBS techniques. Finally, the production system design activities were related with the location-based tools and their relationship was summarised in a Venn diagram. The results are significant in that they show that different production system design activities require different location-based planning tools in order to maximise their effectiveness. Moreover, the context of use of the production design varies according to the level of project uncertainty, information availability and participants' commitment to the construction planning. As such, this chapter is contributing new knowledge in the understanding of production design activities and LBP tools from a theoretical as well as from a practical perspective for application in practice. Lean Construction is a relatively new production management philosophy that uses adapted concepts, tools and techniques from Lean manufacturing in order to design, plan, control and improve construction production systems. This chapter focuses on literature review on research about Production System Design, Phase Scheduling and Work Structuring, followed by a comparison among the terms according to the focus of designing activities, the collaboration for decision-making, project stage when it is developed, and the output for the production planning and control. The context of use of the production design varies according to the level of project uncertainty, information availability and participants' commitment to the construction planning. Cross comparisons were made between the production design activities and the Location-based Scheduling techniques to establish their potential combined use in Lean projects. The chapter presents the most common location-based techniques used in Lean projects.