Key factors affecting the adaptation of prefabricated prefinished volumetric construction (PPVC) in Malaysia industry

Abstract

Prefabricated Pre-finished Volumetric Construction (PPVC) is the advanced modular construction technology introduced by Singapore Building and Construction Authority (BCA) to promote a modern practices in construction sector which rectifying the fragmentation of construction industries towards higher productivity and more efficiency in project delivery. PPVC is an innovative approach to replace the traditional on-site construction method which construct a building using modular units away from the physical site but into a controlled factory environment. The adoption of PPVC has a significant solution to tackle the current level of quality, workmanship, productivity, non-environment construction, unaffordable housing, lacking on-site safety awareness, construction wastage and excessive reliance on unskilled foreign labors associated with conventional construction methods. In Malaysian, PPVC still lagging far behind in the development of Malaysian construction industry. The effectiveness of using PPVC can reduce the number of on-site contractors, increase the efficiencies in the use of resource and minimize the construction waste as well as reduce the overall of construction cost and durations. As a result, the aims of this study are to investigate the key factors affecting the adaptation of PPVC in Malaysia Construction Industry and thus recommend a criteria of feasible mitigation strategies in order to increase the possibility of using PPVC in the future development of Malaysian industry. To achieve these goals, questionnaire was administered by goggle survey form and distributed to industry experts who had working experience in the building industry. A total of 63 responses was received in this survey. Lastly, the results showed that highest number of respondents agreed that the effectiveness of using PPVC were “reduce the overall construction time”, “reduce on-site manpower and equipment requirement”, “better quality of workmanship, efficiency and productivity”. Results also implied that the top three important factors were “lacking experiences of current contractors, subcontractor on PPVC method”, “lacking PPVC of design experience, technical & installation” and “require high operation for capacities of heavy lift crane”. It also revealed the three effective mitigation strategies were “the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) to tackle the building modular construction and coordination”, “intense coordination to ensure work sequence with minimal delays” and “early involvement of contractors and suppliers / manufacturers during the design phase of the project”. Moreover, there are significant risk on using PPVC as the reliability is much harder to guarantee than conventional construction method. PPVC can be very beneficial to a project, but only if everyone involved has the proper experience and ability to perform such activities. This study contributes to industry practitioners to enhance their understanding of PPVC in order to increase the affordability and sustainability of houses in the future development of Malaysian industry.