New offsite production and business models in construction: priorities for the future research agenda

Abstract

Despite the benefits offered by offsite construction, as a percentage, the offsite market is still relatively small. This phenomena is complex; but for brevity, includes a myriad of factors, not least: lack of awareness; supply chain challenges (capacity and knowledge); cultural perception; lack of viable business process models/solutions; and paucity of skills (design/manufacturing/construction). However, many governments are still promoting the offsite agenda through various conduits. Given this, a CIB Task Group (TG74) developed a research roadmap for new production and business models for the construction industry uptake. This paper summarises the work of TG74, where people, process and technology drivers were investigated for construction, manufacturing and design and mapped against three levels of priority and three timeframes. Results indicate that for people drivers, new skills are urgently needed in the design field within a 0–5 year timeframe (compared to a timeframe of 6–10 years for the manufacturing sector). Regarding process drivers, construction process was classed as high priority, followed by design process and manufacturing process. Finally, for technology drivers, construction technology was identified as being high priority, followed by design technology and manufacturing technology, all of which need to be addressed in the medium term. This study presents a roadmap for future uptake.