Collaborative procurement strategy in private sector housing projects using Industrialised Building Systems

Abstract

Along with the global population growth, the demand for affordable accommodation is increasing. In this regard, the construction industry has been urged to change from conventional construction methods to Industrialised Building Systems (IBS) to increase construction quality and productivity by the Malaysian legislator. IBS reduces risks related to occupational safety and health, and alleviates issues for skilled workers and dependency on foreign labor. Despite acknowledging several benefits of using IBS, the construction industry has still slow in embracing this new construction method. In this thesis, a series of barriers were identified that affect the use of IBS within construction. It also verified multiple issues of private sector developers for not adopting IBS systems through literature review, questionnaire survey, semi-structured interview, and Delphi studies. Supply chains and procurement methods were identified as the main constraints that causing non-adoption of IBS. Further, procurement systems are a key factor that contributes to overall client satisfaction and success of IBS projects. An implementation framework for collaborative procurement strategies was developed to address this issue. This framework highlights procurement methods as a vital milestone to the success of IBS housing projects. Several criteria for a successful procurement system were tested in the questionnaire analysis. Since fragmentation in construction industry is also apart of an issue, this thesis promoted a framework of procurement strategy that give an advantages of consortium collaborations between project key players at the design stage. The results of this study revealed that collaborations between designers, contractors, and manufacturers in the design stages of a project have resulted in a higher level of success of IBS housing projects and lowering the levels of risk for stakeholders. The study reveals that the high successful rate of IBS can be obtained if procurement process was designed at early stage of the projects.