Factors facilitating faster construction

Parallel investigations sought critical contributors to faster construction in Hong Kong, within three different building sub-sectors viz. public housing, public non-residential buildings and private sector buildings. Previously identified contributors as noted both from the international literature and from Hong Kong construction projects in general, were supplemented by preliminary interviews of industry experts. The foregoing helped to decide on the different target groups and questionnaire structures for each category. The responses are consolidated within each category using 'Relative Importance Indices'. The more important factors and 'factor categories' are identified, e.g. the 'fast information flow' factor in public non-residential buildings and the 'organization and co-ordination between project teams' factor category in 'public housing' construction. Different factors and factor categories are found to be more important within the three building sub-sectors. Comparisons are also made with the factors that emerge as significant (e.g. 'information flows', 'informal communications' and 'speed of decision making) from a model to predict public housing construction durations that was developed in another parallel study. Strategies for faster construction must focus on such factors that are found to be more significant in particular construction scenarios.