Rosenfeld, Y (1994) Innovative construction methods. Construction Management and Economics, 12(6), pp. 521-541. ISSN 01446193
Abstract
The construction industry is relatively slow in developing and adopting new technologies and usually prefers conservative, well-known practices over innovative construction methods. The paper discussus the logic and reasons behind this behaviour, while pointing to special circumstances in recent history when the balance between risk and benefits tilted towards the benefits, providing the opportunity for innovation to flourish. Such a situation occurred in Israel between 1990 and 1992, as a continuous stream of new immigrants was arriving in the country mainly from the former Soviet Union. The urgent need for mass housing, without creating the slums of the future, stimulated unique economic approaches of risk sharing in large-scale projects and gave rise to the implementation of dozens of innovative construction methods. Three of these unconventional methods are presented and analysed as representative of three larger categories: revival of methods that performed reasonably well in the past but have lapsed for mainly economic reasons, imported methods with favourable records from other countries and totally new methods with no past experience. The paper concludes with a cross-comparison of their advantages and limitations concerning various attributes and with some generalized lessons for selection criteria, which will be elaborated on in a forthcoming paper.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | building economics; innovation; production; risk; site methods |
| Index terms: | new technology, immigrant, innovative construction method, construction industry, selection criteria, implementation, slum, Israel, stream, building economics, history, housing |
| Subjects: | construction type, innovation and technology management, contractual arrangements, architectural and construction history, water management, Geography, urban design, tendering, industry analysis, cost management, demography, building construction |
| Topics: | Urban Studies, Site Management, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Engineering Principles, Construction Technology, Procurement, Sustainability |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
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