Factors impeding the offsite production of housing construction in China: an investigation of current practice

Abstract

The promotion of offsite production is a possible future strategic direction for the construction industry as it provides economic, environmental and social benefits. However, in China, the uptake of offsite production, particularly in the housing sector, is relatively low and few studies have identified and examined the reasons behind this trend. This research gap is addressed and factors that inhibit the wider use of offsite production in China’s housing construction industry are investigated. A questionnaire survey was carried out, examining the views of 110 construction professionals in China including developers, designers, contractors, manufacturers and suppliers. Factor analysis of 21 separate variables was undertaken which extracted six principal factors, namely: ‘constructability implementation’, ‘social climate and attitudes’, ‘architectural performance’, ‘costing’, ‘supply chain’ and ‘preparatory stage’. The findings identify both barriers and challenges to increasing the uptake of offsite production in China. This provides a rare insight about the housing construction industry in China with possible implications for other developing countries that are seeking to identify and overcome barriers to the wider uptake of offsite production.

Keywords:

• China
• housing construction
• offsite production
• sustainability

Notes

1. .For a very long time urban housing in China was fully developed, distributed and managed by the government or state-owned enterprises as ‘welfare’ for the households who lived and worked in cities. The Chinese government launched the housing system reform in 1988 with the policy to allow the land to be transacted in the marketplace and to allow private residential real estate development. The urban subsidized welfare housing system was eventually abolished in 1998 and the majority of the housing projects in urban regions are developed and transacted as commodities in the market.