Building features and site-specific factors affecting buildability in Hong Kong

Purpose: Buildability is concerned with enhancing building designs to achieve ease of construction. Adapting from the Buildable Design Appraisal System in Singapore, a tailored-made Buildability Assessment Model (BAM), which scores buildability of building designs, has been devised for use in Hong Kong. In developing the BAM, local factors and terrain characteristics, e.g. highly constrained and sloping site conditions, which are common features besetting the industry, are particularly considered. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to report on the effects of building sites on buildability. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey with 39 valid responses was administered on construction practitioners, aimed at understanding the relative buildability importance of a number of building features and site-specific factors in Hong Kong. Analysis was carried out using the relative importance index method. Findings: It is found that the most important buildability considerations for building features and site-specific factors are "simplicity" and "allowing working space for safe construction and minimising water ingress and geotechnical difficulties", respectively. Research limitations/implications: The small sample size, though statistically significant, can be increased in further studies of similar type, to enhance the representativeness of the rankings. Originality/value: The survey findings are valuable in that they offer a practical reference for design professionals, by scoring their designs, to comprehend the degree to which various building features and site-specific factors impact on the ease of constructing their designs.