Pan, W; Sidwell, R and Soetanto, R (2009) A longitudinal investigation into utilising crosswall construction for multi-storey residential buildings. In: Dainty, A R J (ed.) Proceedings of 25th Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-9 September 2009, Nottingham, UK.
Abstract
To address the under-supply and poor build quality of housing in the UK, the use of offsite technologies has been promoted. Precast concrete crosswall is an offsite technology encouraged for use for multi-storey developments. However, the uptake of crosswall is slow, which constitutes a risk to long-term housing delivery. This paper addresses this risk by revealing an insight into the utilisation of crosswall for multi-storey residential buildings in the organisational context. The paper reports on longitudinal case study research of 20 crosswall buildings, consisting of 1930 apartments in total, constructed by a leading UK housebuilder in recent five years. The case study involved document analysis and personal interviews with the company and their supply chains. The rationale for utilising crosswall included considerations of design, technical, commercial, procurement and construction. The primary driver was simplicity from both procurement and contractual aspects, which enabled the developer to construct buildings up to 20 storeys without engaging specialist main contractors. Other benefits included reduced on-site duration, enhanced quality of finish, reduced waste, improved health and safety and cost savings, whilst issues existed in design, procurement and construction. To fully realise the potential benefits from utilising crosswall requires modifications to existing design process and supply chain management and cultural support to innovation and learning. Strategies are developed from the longitudinal learning process. They should encourage the uptake of crosswall and improve quality and efficiency of housing supply in the future.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | innovation; learning; offsite construction; precast concrete crosswall |
| Index terms: | precast concrete, investigation, duration, cost saving, housing, main contractor, efficiency, interview, residential building, case study, design process, health and safety, document analysis, housing delivery, strategy, housebuilder |
| Subjects: | building materials, data science, data collection methods, construction type, design methods, practitioner, housing and residential development, project controls, management, performance management, economics, health safety and environment |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Construction Technology, Business Strategy, Cost Management, Health and Safety, Research Practice, Construction Materials, Time Control, Design Practice, Urban Studies, Quality Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here