FFinal Report-construction industrialization...

Publication 368Exploring construction

industrialization in

China: the status

quo and the

challenges

Exploring construction industrialization in China:

the status quo and the challenges

By

The HKPolyU Student Chapter of CIB

in collaboration with

CIB Working Commission “W119 — Customised Industrial Construction”

I

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by CIB Sebestyén Future Leaders Award 2011. We are very grateful to the following persons for their assistance and useful comments.

Prof. Gerhard Girmscheid, Coordinator of CIB Working Commission “W119—Customised Industrial Construction”

Prof. Francis Wong, Professor of Dept. of Building and Real Estate in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University

We would also like to acknowledge the kind helps of Ms. Chao MAO at School of Construction Management and Real Estate of Chongqing University. The committee members of HKPolyU Student Chapter of CIB (2011/2012 and 2012/2013) and the respondents of the questionnaire survey are very grateful for their contributions to this study.

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Abstract

Construction industrialization is considered as a feasible tool to support the Chinese construction industry to achieve sustainable development in the current process of rapid urbanization. However, few studies have investigated whether large-scale construction industrialization is possible and what are the obstacles. This report therefore aims to review the historical development and status quo of construction industrialization in China. Content analysis was adopted to examine relevant governmental documents, as well as researches on construction industrialization, prefabrication and off-site production in China. It is found that construction industrialization once developed rapidly from 1950s to 1990s while it remains at a relatively low level as compared to traditional building construction approach at present. Very few policies have been formulated to promote construction industrialization. Moreover, standardization system for construction industrialization is still imperfect. The level of prefabrication, mechanization, automation and reproduction is quite low, although several leading Chinese construction companies have been re-exploring construction industrialization. The questionnaire survey of this research has identified the challenges of developing construction industrialization in China arise from three main aspects, namely policy system, technology development, and construction market. Suggestions on promoting construction industrialization in China were made accordingly.

Keywords: construction industrialization, status quo, content analysis, questionnaire survey, China

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................................... I

Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... II

Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... III

List of Figures ..................................................................................................................................V

List of Tables...................................................................................................................................VI

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1

1.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1

1.2. Research objectives...................................................................................................... 4

1.3. Research methodology ................................................................................................ 4

1.4. Research limitations and significances......................................................................... 4

2. The historical development of construction industrialization in China................................... 6

2.1 1950s~1960s, the infancy period ................................................................................. 6

2.2 1970s~1980s, the rapid development period .............................................................. 7

2.3 1990s, the stagnant period .......................................................................................... 8

3. The status quo of construction industrialization in China..................................................... 12

3.1 Few policies have been formulated to promote construction industrialization ........ 12

3.2 Imperfect standardization system for construction industrialization ........................ 13

3.3 Low level of prefabrication ........................................................................................ 14

3.4 Low level of mechanization and automation ............................................................. 15

3.5 No robotics and reproduction.................................................................................... 17

3.6 Several leading institutions have been re-‐exploring construction industrialization ..17

3.7 Site visit and interview ............................................................................................... 20

4. The challenges in the development of construction industrialization in China .................... 21

4.1 Data collection ........................................................................................................... 23

IV

4.2 Background information of the interviewees ............................................................ 23

4.3 Critical challenges in developing construction industrialization ................................ 29

5. Conclusions and Recommendations ..................................................................................... 37

5.1 Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 37

5.2 Recommendations ..................................................................................................... 40

References .................................................................................................................................... 41

Appendices.................................................................................................................................... 47

V

List of Figures

Fig. 3.1 The quantity of self owned mechanized equipment from 1991 to 2010 (Source: National Bureau of Statistics, 2011) ............................................................................................................ 16

Fig. 3.2 The rate of technical equipment from 1991 to 2010 (Source: National Bureau of Statistics, 2011) ............................................................................................................................................. 16

Fig. 3.3 The rate of equipment power from 1991 to 2010 (Source: National Bureau of Statistics, 2011) ............................................................................................................................................. 17

Fig. 3.4 Site visit to the Vanke Research Center of Construction .................................................. 20

Fig. 4.1 The involved tasks in the industrialized projects in the survey ........................................ 27

Fig. 4.2 The type of industrialized projects in the survey.............................................................. 28

Fig. 4.3 The construction method of the industrialized projects in the survey............................. 28

Fig. 4.4 The structural system of the industrialized projects in the survey................................... 29

VI

List of Tables

Table 1.1 The interpretation of construction industrialization in various countries....................... 1

Table 2.1 The milestone in the historical development of construction industrialization in China...................................................................................................................................................... 10

Table 3.1 Summary of standardization related to precast components....................................... 14

Table 3.2 The illustration of research outcomes relevant to construction industrialization ........ 18

Table 4.1 The challenges in the development of construction industrialization in China............. 21

Table 4.2 Background information of the survey.......................................................................... 24

Table 4.3 The statistics of background information...................................................................... 25

Table 4.4 ANOVA analysis for the four background variables....................................................... 25

Table 4.5 The reliability analysis for each group and the whole of factors................................... 30

Table 4.6 The statistics of the tentative factors (the value of mean in descending order)........... 32

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1. Introduction

1.1. Introduction

Construction industrialization prevailed in several European countries in response to the intensive demands on housing after the World War II (Qays et al., 2009). The basic idea behind construction industrialization is that the traditional building process should be reformed towards mass production of components for assembly and not to arrange most if not all process to be completed on the construction site. Based on the basic idea, construction industrialization is usually interpreted from the aspect of product industrialization or process industrialization. For example, Girmscheid and Kapp (2006) opined that construction industrialization is “rationalization of work processes to achieve cost efficiency, and improved productivity and quality”. Alinitew et al. (2006) considered that construction industrialization can be divided as product industrialization focusing on the technological aspect of building, and process industrialization concerning the contractual and informal cooperation of involved parties. No matter which aspect to be interpreted from, the success of industrialization depends on the ability to combine product industrialization with process industrialization (Girmscheid, 2005).

Interpretation of construction industrialization also varies among countries, due to different social and natural environments. Table 1.1 indicated that all the countries put their emphasis on standardized design, prefabricated construction components, and mechanization in the site operation (Wang and Ji, 2010). Five degrees of industrialization, namely prefabrication, mechanization, automation, robotics and reproduction, can be used to describe construction industrialization (Richard, 2005). Based on the common understanding of construction industrialization, this report intends to review the historical development and status quo of construction industrialization in China, with a focus on residential buildings.

Table 1.1 The interpretation of construction industrialization in various countries

Country Interpretation Reference

France The main structural components are universal, the product and equipment are socialized production and commercial supply, the planning, design, production, construction, financial management and other aspects of the work integrated into one.

Jaillon and Poon (2009)

England Construction installation assembly, mechanization and automation, the construction plan is concise, the procedure of construction is rationale, the management is highly sufficient.

Ji, 2011

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Hungary Construction industrialization use the new materials and construction techniques and factory prefabricated large-scale structures, improve the degree of construction mechanization, improve the management and construction organization, it has taken the requirements of production and construction into the design progress.

Wang and Ji, 2010

USA Based on the construction system, components system and the generalization and standardization of production, achieve large-scale mass production of construction by socialized mass production method.

Friedmana and Cammalleria (1993)

Japan Construction industrialization requires to apply the modern industrial ways of organizing production in the construction industry. The volume of production should be large and stable, it could guarantee the continuity of production. It could achieve the construction standardization, the entire production processes at all stages are integrated, and it is highly organized. It could reduce manual labor and human resources as much as possible and achieve a combination of mechanization and production

Wong and Yeh (1985)

Soviet Union

Construction industrialization will use large-scale mechanization and the factory prefabricated components, constructed large number of buildings by the repetitive process, improve the management, and the design and construction work hand in glove.

Wang and Ji, 2010

Malaysia Construction industrialization is an innovative process of building construction using concept of mass-production of industrialized systems, produced at the factory or onsite within controlled environments, it includes the logistic and assembly aspect of it, done in proper coordination with thorough planning and integration

Kamar et al., 2011

China Construction industrialization is a construction approach with prefabrication, design standardization, component integrated and construction mechanization, which integrates the industry chain of design, production and construction, achieves the purpose of energy-saved, environment protected, maximizes the value of the life cycle and achieves sustainable development.

Qian and Lu, 2008

Construction industrialization has been widely advocated due to its merits. To name a few, construction costs can be reduced by as large as 30% due to efficiency promotion and decrease of on-site, high-cost labor demand, which might make affordable housing available (Björnfot and Stehn, 2004; Alinaitwe et al., 2006). Construction time will be reduced due to shortened planning time and preparatory work brought by industrialization, especially by process industrialization (Girmscheid, 2010). Industrialization will also lead to quality improvement due to a greater precision and

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consistency induced (Alinaitwe et al., 2006). Moreover, Industrialization can be seen as an effective means for eliminating, or at least largely reducing, on-site activities in construction (Koskela, 2003). As industrialization minimizes on-site activities and reduce construction hazards, the workers’ site safety and health can be improved (Alinaitwe et al., 2006). Through reducing on-site activities, construction waste and resource consumption can be minimized, which further lessens the negative impact on environment. Construction industrialization is in favor of sustainable construction, which advocates the creation and operation of a healthy built environment based on resource efficiency and ecological principles (de Ligny, 2010). Overall, construction industry can progress towards sustainable development through industrialization.

Theoretically, construction industrialization can be adopted to achieve sustainable development in the Chinese construction industry. In the view of economist Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winner, the urbanization in China and the high-tech development in the United States will be the two keys to influence the human development in the 21st century (People’s Daily Online, 2005). Rapid urbanization and high level of economy development lead to a great demand in construction in China. It is estimated that by 2025, 350 million will be added to China’s urban population, 40 billion square meters of floor space in five million buildings will be built while 50,000 of these buildings could be skyscrapers, which is equivalent to constructing up to ten New York cities (McKinsey & Company, 2008). Due to its important role, performance of the construction industry is vital for Chinese sustainable development. However, there are many existing problems to be tackled in the construction industry, such as poor construction quality (Chen, 1998), low energy efficiency (Li and Colombier, 2009), poor safety record (Lu, 2006), and uncoordinated organizational structure (Zeng et al., 2003). The merits of construction industrialization could, to a certain extent, alleviate some of these problems.

However, up until now, few studies have been conducted to comprehensively explore, showcase and generalize the application of industrialization in China’s construction industry. Whether large-scale of construction industrialization is possible and what are the major obstacles in the current condition remains unknown. To fill the knowledge gap, this research aims to understand the status quo of construction industrialization in China and further explores the challenges facing China’s construction industry in order to better implement construction industrialization.

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1.2. Research objectives

To summarize, the research aims to achieve the following objectives.

l To understand the status quo of construction industrialization in China

l To identify the challenges of implementing construction industrialization in China

l To put forward suggestions on promotion of construction industrialization in China

1.3. Research methodology

In order to achieve the stated objectives, three specific steps have been carried out during the project period. The project will combine the use of various research methods including content analysis, interview, and questionnaire surveys.

Step 1: understanding the historical development and status quo of construction industrialization

Content analysis was conducted to investigate the historical development and status quo of construction industrialization in China in aspects of prefabrication, mechanization, automation, robotics and reproduction, which is proposed by Richard (2005) to describe construction industrialization Interviews and site visits were conducted to verify the findings from the content analysis.

Step 2: identifying the challenges of implementing construction industrialization

Based on Step 1, content analysis was also conducted to find the challenges of promoting construction industrialization in China. Questionnaire survey was conducted to identify the critical challenges perceived by the academic experts and practitioners in the field of construction industry in China.

Step 3: putting forward suggestions on implementing construction industrialization

Against the identified critical challenges in Step 2, suggestions were put forward to promote construction industrialization in China.

1.4. Research limitations and significances

Construction industrialization is beneficial to reduce construction cost, to reduce construction time, to improve construction quality, to improve construction safety, to

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lessen negative impact on environment and finally help to achieve sustainable development. The great construction demand in China makes it vital to purse sustainable development. This research aims to explore the status quo of construction industrialization and identify the challenges of construction industrialization in China. It would help to identify the right orientation for Chinese construction industry to move forward for construction industrialization. Although the research project focuses on China, the research methods and conclusions would be a good reference for similar studies in other countries and regions.

The rest of the report comprises five sections. Section 2 reviews the historical development of construction industrialization after the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was established in 1949. Section 3 describes the status quo of construction industrialization in the last 10 years. Section 4 summarizes the challenges encountered in Chinese construction industrialization. Section 5 draws the conclusion and makes recommendations on promoting construction industrialization in China.

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2. The historical development of construction industrialization in China

Chinese construction industrialization has been developed gradually with the progress of urbanization after the establishment of PRC in 1949. From 1950s to 1960s, all industries including the construction industry faced a transition from traditional handicrafts to mechanical industrialization. By referring to the experiences of former Soviet Union, China began the preliminary exploration on construction industrialization. Between 1970s and 1980s, construction industrialization developed rapidly. Factories producing various devices relevant to construction industrialization such as precast components, kitchen and sanitary wares, windows, and concrete mixing station were established. In addition, various structural systems such as large panel system building, inner casting and out-hung residential building, as well as frame shear wall residential building were explored during this period. All these established the technological foundation for further development of construction industrialization. In the 1990s, construction industrialization was stagnated. However, construction industrialization was forwarder-considered in order to solve the problems associated with construction development, such as huge energy consumption and environmental pollution after entry into the 21st century.

2.1 1950s~1960s, the infancy period

The level of construction technology was low when PRC was established. In order to meet the increasing housing demands and to improve the use of construction technology, China started construction industrialization at the first five-year plan period (1953-1957), by referring to the experiences of the former Soviet Union. The State Council put forward a regulation “Decision on strengthening and developing construction industry” in May 1956. This regulation emphasized that mass production of construction components and parts in factory and mechanized construction should be developed step by step in order to complete technical transformation of the construction industry and gradually shift to construction industrialization (Qian and Lu, 2008). Brick-concrete structure and concrete structure1 were adopted to advance the development of the construction industry. With the technological development, the initial foundation of mass production and mechanized construction developed quickly, which plays a major role in the development of the national economy during that period.

1 Brick-concrete structure is used to denote the construction structure, which uses bricks as a vertical bearing structure, and uses reinforced concrete board as a horizontal bearing structure. If the block structure includes concretes, it also belongs to this type. Meanwhile, concrete structure is used to indicate that the main bearing structure, such as pillars, beams, boards, stairs, and roofs, is made of reinforced concrete.

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2.2 1970s~1980s, the rapid development period

Based on the practices in the first period, the former State Infrastructure Commission officially proposed that construction industrialization should focus on standardization of architectural design, industrial production of construction components and parts, mechanization of construction process, and reform of wall materials from 1968 to 1978 (Shen and Zhang, 1994). However, “Cultural Revolution” occurred in China from 1966 to 1976. Most residential construction was suspended and construction industrialization recorded no real progress.

Urbanization has entered into a rapid development period since the “reform and opening up” policy established in 1978. Construction industrialization had undergone systematic and fruitful explorations from 1978 to 1989. The former State Construction Committee held both “Xiang He Forum on Construction Industrialization” and “Xin Xiang Planning Conference on Construction Industrialization” in 1978. The two conferences clearly indicated that “construction industrialization is adopting the approach of industrial production to construct residential and industrial buildings” (Shen and Zhang, 1994). Moreover, they pointed out that construction industrialization should focus on standardization of architectural design, industrial production of construction components and parts, mechanization of construction process, and reform of wall materials. Changzhou in Jiangsu Province and Nanning in Guangxi Province were selected as the two pilot cities for implementing construction industrialization, the experiences of which were intended to be generalized throughout the nation (Ji, 2011, p32).

In 1981, the national symposium on construction industrialization was held to exchange the experiences of developing construction industrialization since the last 1970s. Four experiences were summarized. Firstly, reform of wall materials was conducted throughout the nation. Secondly, new factories producing precast components and parts, wall panels, kitchens and sanitary wares, doors and windows, concrete mixing station, were established to promote construction industrialization. The national annual production of precast concrete reached 25 million m3 and in some major cities, the amount of precast concrete was more than that of the casting concrete (Yan et al., 2004). Lastly, this period also witnessed the rapid development of various structural systems, including large panel system2, and inner casting and out-hung system3. Large panel

2 Large panel system is composed of vertical wall panels which support horizontal roof and floor panels. The vertical panels are stacked and joined to create axial load-bearing shear walls while the horizontal panels act a diaphragms and gravity load collecting roof and floor systems. The wall, floor and roof are stitched together with in-situ concrete joints. It is often called “Plattenbau” from German or “Panelák” from Czech and Slovak, “Blok” from Polish or “Panelház” in Hungarian. It is one of the common ways of construction industrialization to solve the housing problems in the 1960s worldwide.

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system building developed rapidly. In 1980s, large panel system buildings were adopted for erection in large and medium-sized cities. Production lines of wallboard were set up in cities such as Beijing and Tianjing. The production process of large panel system building had achieved mechanization and semi-automation. The production capacity of components and parts for large panel system building reached 500,000 m2 per year (about 30,000 units of houses) in 1987. 7,000,000 m2 of large panel has been constructed until the late 1980s (Ji, 2011, p33).

Moreover, several national standards with respect to construction industrialization had also been issued. “Standard of modular coordination on industrial buildings” (GBJ 6-86) and “Uniform standards of modular coordination on buildings” (GBJ 2-86) were issued in 1987. These standards specified certain parameters, shape size, the basic requirements of structural harmonization, and modularization for industrial and residential buildings (Ji, 2011, p33). These standards have improved the level of standardization and assembly in building and construction.

However, China adopted a strict planned economy model then and construction industrialization was promoted through administrative schemes, which disregarded the market rules. The cost of building production with new systems was higher than those with traditional brick structure. Meanwhile, the level of acceptance was poor due to reasons such as, poor performance of waterproofing, heat preservation, sound insulation, and monotonous appearance, etc. In addition, the government did not put forward any incentive measures or mandatory requirements to promote the new systems. Therefore, few outcomes of this campaign were retained except for inner casting and out-hung residential building. Inner casting and out-hung residential building is mixed with the characteristics of traditional and industrialized construction, which was widely employed in reconstruction after the Tangshan Earthquake in 1976. During this period, the earliest reinforced concrete high-rise residential buildings were built, such as the diplomat apartments outside Jian Guo Men of Beijing (built in 1973) and the former high-rise residential buildings in San Men Street of Beijing (built in 1976) (Sina Real Estate, 2009).

2.3 1990s, the stagnant period

The economic benefits of construction industry dropped considerably in the early 1990s. Research and development of construction was in the state of stagnation (Li, 2003). Therefore, various seminars were organized by the academics and practitioners in the construction industry to summarize the problems and experiences during this period.

3 Inner casting and out-hung system is a combination of shear wall and brick-concrete structure. The inner wall is made by large-scale casting concrete and the exterior wall is made by bricks. The reinforced concrete structural columns are used to join the floors, roofs, and foundation ring beam.

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Moreover, foreign experiences of developing construction industry were summarized in order to find a suitable approach for delivering good quality residential buildings. Based on these experiences, construction industrialization, especially industrialization for the construction of residential buildings was being identified as the future direction of the construction industry. Chinese construction industrialization entered into a new stage since 1994.

Eight ministries of the State Council jointly initiated a research scheme “Scientific and technological industrial project of well-off residential buildings4 in urban and rural areas” in 1995. In the same year, the former Ministry of Construction issued “Outlines for the development of construction industrialization”. This scheme put emphasis on promoting applications of advanced science and technology in construction, and industrial production of components and parts, especially integration of kitchen and bathroom. With the help of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), this scheme introduced Japanese experiences of residential construction, and conducted research in construction system, construction objectives of well-off buildings, design theory, modular coordination, product integration, performance evaluation, and constructing experimental buildings. This research led to the rapid development of technologies and residential industry for well-off living. The outcomes of the scheme provided theory and practice basis for construction industrialization (Zhu, 2009). Moreover, Promotion Center of Construction Industrialization was established by the Former Ministry of Construction in 1996. Also, regulations such as “Planning and design guidelines for well-off residential buildings” and “Plan for pilot of modernizing residential industry” were formulated in

4 Well-off residential building is a concept with much political means, which put forward the standard of residential buildings when PRC enter into the “well-off society” in the middle of the 21st century. The well-off residential buildings should satisfy five principles, namely people orientation, ecological protection, technology leading, harmonious community and achieving comprehensive benefits of society, economy and environment. Ten basic standards were put forward by the former Ministry of Construction: (1) the housing area should be comparatively large with appropriate functions, (2) suitable design with potential of decoration and improving, (3) with adequate sunlight, well-ventilated and good sound insulation, (4) with suitable kitchen wares, (5) separation of bathing and washing, (6) concentration of the pipelines for telephone, TV, internet, power, natural gas, and water, (7) balcony for outdoor rest, (8) good community services, (9) centralized waste treatment and car park, and (10) good ecological environment of the community (Source: China Securities Journal (2002) “What is the well-off building like?” http://www.china.com.cn/chinese/difang/237023.htm).

“Well-off society” is a political goal for the PRC government assumed to be achieved in the middle of the 21st century. In 2002, ten basic standards of “well-off society” was put forward to judge whether this goal is completed: (1) the per capita GDP is over 3000 USD, (2) the per capita disposable income is over 18,000 RMB for the urban people, (3) the per capita disposable income is over 8,000 RMB for the rural people, (4) the Engel coefficient falls below 40%, (5) the per capita housing area is over 30 m2 for the urban people, (6) the urbanization rate reaches 50%, (7) the rate of households owning computers reaches 20%, (8) the University enrollment rate is over 20%, (9) the ratio of doctors to people reach 2.8‰, and (10) the rate of urban people obtaining the minimum living allowance is over 95%. (Sources: People’s Web (2002). “The blueprint of the new century: ten standards of well-off society”http://www.people.com.cn/GB/jinji/222/9520/9522/20021129/877904.html).

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1996. Demonstrated well-off residential buildings were constructed in 10 provinces (cities), which were selected as pilots of modernizing residential industry (Ji, 2011, p34).

The State Council formulated “Suggestions on promoting modernizing residential construction and improving the quality of residential buildings” (Document No. [1999]72 issued by the State Council) in 1999. This programmatic document put forward the guidelines, objectives, focus, and implementation requirements of modernizing residential industry. The document was marked as the highest level of policy promoting construction industrialization in China. However, construction industrialization had been basically stagnant in the next ten years since the document (No. [1999]72) was issued. It is because the meaning of construction industrialization was mix-up with the term real estate development. As a result, construction industrialization was being overlooked. Standardization and mass production of components and parts, modular coordination, integration of industrial chain gained few progresses (Sina Real Estate, 2009).

The milestone in the historical development of construction industrialization in China can be summarized in Table 2.1. The well-off residential construction was not continued when entered into the 21st century mainly due to two reasons. Firstly, some state leaders considered construction industrialization as real estate development. The promotion of construction industrialization was therefore stopped as the state tried to control the bubble of real estate development by then. Secondly, the developers considered that the standardized components and parts resulted in less diversification. The developers had no willingness to promote it in the construction market. Therefore, the campaign of construction industrialization became silent in the late 1990s.

Table 2.1 The milestone in the historical development of construction industrialization in China

Year Milestone Emphasis

1956 “Decision on strengthening and developing construction industry” by the State Council

mass production of construction components and parts in factory and mechanized construction should be developed step by step;

gradually complete the technical transformation of the construction industry and shift to construction industrialization

1978 “Xiang He Forum on Construction Industrialization” and “Xin Xiang Planning Conference on construction Industrialization” by the former State Construction Committee

construction industrialization is adopting the approach of industrial production to construct residential and industrial buildings

construction industrialization should focus on standardization of architectural design, industrial

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production of construction components and parts, mechanization of construction process, and reform of wall materials

Changzhou in Jiangsu Province and Nanning in Guangxi Province was selected as two pilot cities for implementing construction industrialization, the experiences of which were intended to promote nation widely

1981 “National symposium on construction industrialization was held to exchange the experience of developing construction industrialization since the last 1970s”

reform of wall materials was conducted nation widely;

new factories producing precast components and parts, wall material, kitchens and sanitary wares, doors and windows, concrete mixing station, were established to promote construction industrialization;

various construction system including large panel system and inner casting and out-hung system developed rapidly;

large panel system developed rapidly. In 1980s, large panel system building began to be constructed in the large and medium-sized cities.

1987 “Standard of modular coordination on industrial buildings” (GBJ 6-86) and “Uniform standards of modular coordination on buildings” (GBJ 2-86) were issued

specified certain parameters, shape size, the basic requirements of structural harmonization, and modularization for industrial and residential buildings

1995 A joint research scheme “Scientific and technological industrial project of well-off residential buildings in urban and rural areas” were started and “Outline for the development of construction industrialization” was issued by the former Ministry of Construction

introduced Japanese experiences of residential construction;

conducted research in construction system, construction objectives of well-off buildings, design theory, modular coordination, product integration, and constructing experimental buildings

provided theory and practice basis for construction industrialization

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1996 Promotion Center of Construction Industrialization was established by the Former Ministry of Construction and regulations such as “Planning and design guidelines for well-off residential buildings” and “Plan for pilot of modernizing residential industry” were formulated

Demonstrated well-off residential buildings were constructed in each city and 10 provinces (cities) were selected as pilots of modernizing residential industry

1999 “Suggestions on promoting modernizing residential construction and improving the quality of residential buildings” was issued by the State Council

put forward the guidelines, objectives, focus, and implementation requirements of modernizing residential industry;

the document marked as the highest level of policy promoting construction industrialization

3. The status quo of construction industrialization in China

Although construction industrialization has gained some grounds, it records little advancement at the beginning of the 21st century. Very few if any specific policies have been formulated to promote construction industrialization. Standardization, prefabrication, mechanization, automation, and reproduction remains at low level not mention the process industrialization. The following presents the result of the review on the status quo of construction industrialization in the 21st century.

3.1 Few policies have been formulated to promote

construction industrialization

In the historical development process, several policies, which are usually macro policies to stress the significance of construction industrialization and specify the development directions, have been formulated. At the beginning of the 21st century, several policies not directly related to construction industrialization have been issued. For example, the Former Ministry of Construction issued “National implementation rules for green building innovation (trial version)” in 2004. Later on, “Guidance for promoting energy-saving and land-efficient construction development” was issued in 2005. Based on this, “Technology guidelines for green building” and “Evaluation standard on green building” were formulated in 2005 and 2006 respectively. Moreover, the National 12th Five Year Plan (2011-2015) specified construction industrialization as one of the important national development orientations (Zhu, 2011). However, these policies neither promote

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construction industrialization with specific measures nor lay a solid foundation for solving the technical problems.

Looking at the developed countries, appropriate policies had been put forward to encourage constructing industrialized buildings, to promote the purchase of industrialized buildings, and to advance research at the initial development period. For example, Sweden government formulated “Residential standards Law”. This law stated that the contractor could attain governmental loan as long as the buildings are constructed according to the national standards, and constructed with the materials and components manufactured according to the manufacture standards made by the Building Standards Association (Ji, 2011, p28). Japan set a rule that the consumers can apply for low interest loan and exempt the income tax on the revenues generated from the buildings if they purchase the industrialized buildings, which satisfy the requirements of the national policy and technical specifications. The Congress of USA granted 10 million dollars to Ministry of Housing and Urban Development every year, which are used to support the research and development conducted by the National Construction Technology Research Center. However, China has not established specific policies to encourage constructing industrialized buildings, to promote the purchase of industrialized buildings, and to advance research and development.

3.2 Imperfect standardization system for construction

industrialization

The standardization system for construction industrialization has not been established, although some separate standardization has been issued. Table 3.1 summarizes the national, industrial, and association standards related to industrialized residential buildings by searching the database of China Association for Engineering Construction Standardization (CAECS, 2012). As shown in Table 3.1, the standardization system is still imperfect. Firstly, the standards only partly relate to construction industrialization. Most of the standards targeted in precast concrete. The standards on the main structure, decoration, functional components, materials, assembly, construction process, and housing performance have not been issued. Secondly, the standard mainly effects at the level of association. Construction industrialization is a system revolution, which needs the support and guidance of the government and industry. This condition reflects that the governmental supports and guidance are not enough.

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Table 3.1 Summary of standardization related to precast components

No. Title of the standard Issued in year

Category

1 Unified standard for modular coordination of buildings [GBJ2-86]

1986 National standard

2 Standard for modular coordination of dwelling houses [GB50100-2001]

2001 National standard

3 Specification for design and construction of cold-drawing wire pre-stressed concrete members [JGJ19-92]

1992 Industry standard

4 Technical specification for concrete structural element with cold-rolled and twisted bars [JGJ115-2006]

2006 Industry standard

5 Specification for design and construction of reinforced concrete with coupled steel bars [CECS 26:90]

1990 Association standard

6 Specification for quality control of concrete and precast concrete components [CECS 40:92]


7 Specification for quality control of concrete and precast concrete components [CECS 40:92]


8 Specification for structural design of buried precast concrete round pipeline of water supply and sewerage engineering [CECS 143:2002]


9 Technical specification for steel jacket pre-insulated pipeline with vacuum layer [CECS 206:2006]


10 Technical specification for application of prefabricated cement polystyrene insulation panel with PET reinforcement [CECS 272:2010]


3.3 Low level of prefabrication

Prefabrication can be defined as “a manufacturing process, generally taking place at a specialized facility, in which various materials are joined to form a component part of a final installation”. The prefabricated components can be as simple as a concrete panel or more complex structural system (Tatum et al., 1987). Although precast concrete

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component developed rapidly in the history, it reduced greatly with the development of ready-mixed concrete in 1990s. Moreover, the quality of the precast components was comparatively low and some problems such as poor performance of waterproofing, heat preservation, and sound insulation occurred, which further made the people doubt of the capability of earthquake-resistance. Therefore, in the name of ensuring safety, some cities successively prohibited precast hollow slabs and switched to casting concrete, which prevented the development of precast components (Lu, 2001).

At present, only some primary precast components such as slabs are employed and structural system has not achieved prefabrication (Lu, 2001; Yan et al., 2004). It is difficult to calculate the level of prefabrication in China, as there is no public statistical data on prefabrication. However, compared to 85% of precast concrete components employed in Japan, it is quite low as even Vanke (one of the leading residential housing developers) has only used 20% of precast concrete components in its buildings (Lu, 2001).

3.4 Low level of mechanization and automation

Mechanization of construction refers to “employ mechanized equipments to complete the construction process and further rationalize the employment process of mechanized equipments to complete the construction project with better quality and more efficiency” (Liang, 1980). Construction mechanization is always considered as one of the objectives of construction industrialization. “Outlines for the development of construction industrialization” issued by the former Ministry of Construction in 1995, even required the ratio of mechanized equipment’s power to employees should reach 8KW/person by end of the 20th century.

According to the existed research (e.g. Liang, 1980; Ji, 2011), the degree of mechanization can be measured from quantity of self owned mechanized equipment, the rate of technical equipment (net value of mechanized equipment to employees) and the rate of equipment power (mechanized equipment’s power to employees). The yearly changes of quantity of self owned mechanized equipment, the rate of technical equipment, and the rate of equipment power can be shown in Figures Fig. 3.1, Fig. 3.2, and Fig. 3.3. It can be seen that self owned mechanized equipment, the rate of technical equipment, and the rate of equipment power increase and remain at a comparatively high level at present. Due to large-scale investment in infrastructures and residential buildings put forward by the central government in 2009, the number of self owned mechanized equipment increased suddenly in 2010 as shown in Fig. 3.1. However, even the highest rate of equipment power is less than 8 KW/person, as refer to the objective set in 1995. The mechanization of construction still remains at the low level. As casting on site prevails, the mechanized equipment can only be applied in limited processes. Also, as the cost of

16

migrant workers is still less than that of the mechanized equipments, the contractors are reluctant to replace labors with mechanized equipments.

Fig. 3.1 The quantity of self owned mechanized equipment from 1991 to 2010 (Source: National Bureau of Statistics, 2011)

Fig. 3.2 The rate of technical equipment from 1991 to 2010 (Source: National Bureau of Statistics, 2011)

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Fig. 3.3 The rate of equipment power from 1991 to 2010 (Source: National Bureau of Statistics, 2011)

Automation of construction considers the building as a complete product and each floor is an element to be repeated. Currently, there is a low degree of automation in the construction processes due to different reasons. The main reason is traditional nature of the construction industry, which impedes the advance and implantation of automated systems. Besides, the “site production” differentiates construction from other “fixed position manufacturing” industries such as in shipbuilding or manufacturing of airplanes. The relative uniqueness of the buildings and no standardization of their parts is another important issue.

3.5 No robotics and reproduction

Chinese construction industrialization is featured by precast concrete components, earthwork construction, and mechanized construction. However, prefabricated structural system, integrated building and assembly building have not been widely applied. Chinese construction industry has only achieved little progress in production industrialization with none in process industrialization. Therefore robotics and reproduction is merely realized at present.

3.6 Several leading institutions have been re-exploring


Although construction industrialization remains at a low level at present, some leading institutions such as Vanke Company, Shanghai Construction Group, and Shui On Company have collaborated with research institutions, design companies, precast factories, and construction companies and re-exploring precast structural system (Zhu, 2011). Table 3.2 has illustrated some research outcomes relevant to construction

18

industrialization since entry into the 21st century by searching the database of State Intellectual Property Office PRC (SIPO, 2012) and the largest Chinese on-line journal database (CNKI, 2012). Vanke Company was taken as an example to show the re-exploring construction industrialization led by some leading institutions.

Table 3.2 The illustration of research outcomes relevant to construction industrialization

No. Title Owner Types of outcome

Issued in Year

1 Ultra-light and high production speed of floor for construction industrialization

Yongqing ZHANG patent 2011

2 Energy saving seismic wall panel for construction industrialization

Yongqing ZHANG Patent 2011

3 Multi-storey steel structure staircase for industrialized housing

Zhejiang Construction Industry Research Institute of Baoye Group

Patent 2011

4 Research and demonstration of key technologies of industrialized housing system

Shanghai Real Estate Science Research Institute

Checked national scientific project

2011

5 Precast concrete system for multi-storey housing

Vanke Company Checked national scientific project

2009

6 Industrialized housing suitable for China

Yongli SHI Patent 2000

Vanke Company has established a research center of construction in 1999, which aims to promote construction industrialization and construct buildings similar to the process of car manufacturing. A mass production factory for construction components and parts was established in 2004. The first task of this factory was constructing experimental industrial residential buildings. Precast concrete (PC) system was adopted for constructing the first experimental building after comparing PC, light-weight steel (LS) system, steel (S) system and wooden (W) system. This choice was based on several considerations. Firstly, LS, S and W system cannot support large-scale residential construction, as China lacks of timber and steel and the cost of imported building materials is relatively high. Secondly, fire precaution is more difficult for buildings with LS, S, and W system. Thirdly, construction with LS, S and W system is unsuitable for Chinese housing policy. China

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intends to develop high-rise residential buildings as land available for residential development is few. Thus, LS, S and W system are only suitable for low-rise residential buildings and single-family houses. Lastly, the consumers are much easier to accept buildings similar to the traditional buildings with brick system (Vanke, 2007; Liu and Ying, 2009).

After selecting the PC system, Vanke took the precast technology developed by Japan, which integrated with seismic technology. The research found that frame structure was more suitable for the high-rise residential buildings (Vanke, 2007; Liu and Ying, 2009). Based on this experiment, prefabricated frame structure system ( 20# and 21# of Vanke New Milestone in Shanghai), prefabricated shear wall structure and composite prefabricated shear wall structure system (Vanke Baoshan Wonderland in Shanghai) have been applied in practice (Liu and Ying, 2009; Zhu, 2011). The experiences gained in the leading experiment could provide useful references for the industry.

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3.7 Site visit and interview

Site visit to the Vanke Research Center of Construction in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, was conducted by the project team members in December 2011 as shown in Fig. 3.4. Interviews with the technical staff in Vanke Research Center of Construction and the professor in the Dept. of Construction Management at Shenzhen University, who has direct experiences of construction industrialization, were also conducted. The interview finds that Chinese construction industrialization is featured by precast concrete components, earthwork construction, and mechanized construction. However, prefabricated structural system, integrated building and assembly building have not been widely applied. The result of content analysis that Chinese construction industrialization still remains at a low level consists with the result attained from the interview.

(a) the precast factory in decoration components; (b) the prefabricated decoration components

(c) the experimental industrialized building; (d) group photo of the team members

Fig. 3.4 Site visit to the Vanke Research Center of Construction

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4. The challenges in the development of construction industrialization in China

The current development of the construction industry in China has already deviated from the original aim of construction industrialization, which expected that the construction industry can implement standardization, systemization, and generalization of components and parts with few impacts on the natural environment and society. It is slow and difficult to promote standardization of construction, improve standardization and generalization of components and parts, advance mechanism and rationalization of assembly, and promote the advanced technologies to save electricity, energy and water (Qian and Lu, 2008). The challenges in the development of construction industrialization in China were identified by referring to official documents and various existing studies. The challenges were then refined through a pilot study by inviting comments from various experts, including 10 from research institutions (e.g. the professor in the Dept. of Construction Management at Shenzhen University), 8 from governmental departments (e.g. the senior officer in Urban Investment Company of Changchun City, Jilin Province), and 10 from enterprises and consultancy institutions (e.g. the senior manager in the Tongji Consultancy Company). The pilot study led to the selection of 24 factors as shown in Table 4.1, which were grouped under five categories: policy system, technology development, construction market, company governance, and society.

Table 4.1 The challenges in the development of construction industrialization in China

Category Factors References

F1-Lack of standardization on materials, design, assembly, and construction process

Hussein, 2007

F2-Lack of quality certification system Thanoon et al., 2003; Hussein, 2007; Hamid et al., 2008

Policy system

F3-Lack of preferential policies on tax, loan, and subsidy

Kamar et al., 2009; Ma et al., 2010

F4-Few R&D on standardized construction components

Nawi et al., 2007

F5-Low level of industrial production of construction components

Jaillon et al., 2009; Zhu, 2011

F6-Low level of assembly technology Nawi et al., 2007

Technology development

F7-Low level of mechanization and automation in construction

Jaillon et al., 2009; Liu, 2012

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F8-Low level of designing industrialized buildings

Swierk, 2005

F9-Low level of effectively transporting precast components

Chiang et al., 2006

F10-Lack of motivation on technical innovation Nawi et al., 2011

F11-Separation of design, production, and construction companies

Zhu, 2011; Liu, 2012

F12-Unfit tender and bidding system Ji, 2011; Liu, 2012

F13-Low willingness of contractors to implement construction industrialization

Wang and Ji, 2010

F14-Lack of design institutions and designer for industrialized buildings

Swierk, 2005

F15-Lack of precast components manufactures and suppliers

Thanoon et al., 2003

F16-Lack of technician for assembling precast components on site

Swierk, 2005

F17-Cost pressure at the initial stage Tam et al., 2007; Jaillon et al., 2009

Construction market

F18-Uncertainty of market demand Wang and Ji, 2010

F19-Unfit corporate culture Ji, 2011; Liu, 2012

F20-Unfit corporate organization Qian and Lu, 2008

Company governance

F21-Lack the team with long-term cooperative experiences

Zhu, 2011

F22-Worries on unemployment of migrant workers

Wang and Ji, 2010

F23-Attitude of the public on industrialized buildings

Nawi et al., 2007; Kamar et al., 2009

Society

F24-Worries on single architecture form Vikan, 2008

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4.1 Data collection

Data for analyzing the significance of the factors were collected through a questionnaire survey. Questionnaire surveys are commonly adopted for collecting qualitative information of this kind from industrial practitioners (Shen et al., 2011). The questionnaire comprised two parts: (a) questions relating to the respondents’ backgrounds; (b) their opinions on the importance of challenges in development of construction industrialization in China. A Likert scale was used to represent respondents’ opinions. In the questionnaire, respondents are invited to indicate the level of significance of each assessment indicators by assigning a score between 1 and 5, with a grade “1” denoting the least important and “5” the most important. The grades “2”, “3”, “4” represent intermediate judgments between two adjacent judgments. A sample questionnaire is illustrated in the Appendix.

Although oversea researchers were taken into consideration, the survey was conducted among Chinese professionals from July 2012 to September 2012 in China. Initially, a list of 120 respondents was randomly selected from the academic professionals and business practitioners who are working in China’s construction sector. Academic professionals in the field of construction were considered because Chinese academic professionals, as a common practice, have intensively involved in consultancy works thus gain enough experiences and knowledge. Emails were sent to targeted respondents to invite participation in the survey. The questionnaire was distributed by email to the 59 experts who indicated their willingness to participate. In order to increase the sample size, a snowball sampling method was also used. The involved experts were invited to help distribute the questionnaire to their colleagues and business partners whom they knew to be experienced in construction industrialization. A total of 168 questionnaires were dispatched. Finally, 93 valid questionnaires were received with a response rate of 55%.

4.2 Background information of the interviewees

In the questionnaire, we mainly collect the background information in aspect of work unit, job title, relevant construction working experiences, and whether the respondent has direct experience(s) with construction industrialization. The summarized background information can be found in Table 4.2 and Table 4.3. The respondents are mainly from research institutions, construction companies and design companies, which totally occupy 67.7%. With regard to job title, nearly 70% of the respondents are technical staff and middle management staff. For years of working, 90% respondents has work between 1 and 10 years. Moreover, 60% respondents have the direct experiences with construction industrialization.

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Table 4.2 Background information of the survey

Background Classification Value No. of Samples Percentage

(%)

Research institutions 1 23 24.7

Construction company 2 20 21.5

Design company 3 20 21.5

Consulting company 4 15 16.1

Precast components manufacturer 5 N.A. N.A.

Governmental department 6 8 8.6

Supervision company 7 7 7.5

Work unit

others 8 N.A. N.A.

Senior manager 1 6 6.5

Middle level manager 2 13 14

Technical staff 3 56 60.2

Administrative staff 4 4 4.3

Job title

others 5 14 15.1

Below 5 years 1 62 66.7

5-10 years 2 22 23.7

10-15 years 3 6 6.5

15-20 years 4 N.A. N.A.

Years of working

Above 20 years 5 3 3.2

Indirect 0 37 39.8 Experience with

construction industrialization Direct 1 56 60.2

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Table 4.3 The statistics of background information

Skewness Kurtosis Background information

Mean Std. Deviation

Coefficient Std. error of skewness

Coefficient Std. error of Kurtosis

Work unit 3.11 2.024 1.056 0.250 0.409 0.495

Job title 3.08 1.024 0.343 0.250 0.315 0.495

Years of working

1.49 0.880 2.364 0.250 6.358 0.495

Experience with


0.6 0.492 -0.424 0.250 -1.86 0.495

Furthermore, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to examine whether the interviewees with different backgrounds would have significantly different opinions on the significance of the factors. If a probability value p from ANOVA test is below 0.05, it normally suggests that there is a high degree of difference of opinions among the groups classified by a specific background variable and thus the groups can be considered independent (SPSS Inc. 2006). ANOVA was conducted using SPSS software. With regard to work unit, there are only five factors (F1, F9, F16, F18, and F21) whose p value is below 0.05. For job title, there are only two factors (F13 and F22) whose p values are below 0.05. In aspect of years of working, there is only 1 factor (F22) whose p value is below 0.05. From the perspective of experiences of construction industrialization, there is only 1 factor (F13) whose p value is below 0.05. These results mean that interviewees with different backgrounds would not have significantly different opinions on the significance of the factors. Therefore, we could consider these results together on a collective basis.

Table 4.4 ANOVA analysis for the four background variables

Work unit Job title Years of working Experience with construction industrialization Factors

F p value F p value F p value F p value

F1 2.848 0.02 0.747 0.563 0.844 0.474 1.259 0.265

F2 0.998 0.424 0.077 0.989 0.403 0.751 1.042 0.31

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F3 2.197 0.062 0.413 0.799 0.383 0.766 0.114 0.736

F4 0.149 0.98 0.597 0.665 0.757 0.521 0.144 0.705

F5 0.875 0.502 0.495 0.74 0.39 0.76 0.432 0.513

F6 1.229 0.302 1.76 0.144 0.101 0.959 0.001 0.977

F7 1.125 0.353 1.072 0.375 0.197 0.898 0.167 0.684

F8 1.025 0.408 1.109 0.357 0.278 0.841 0.003 0.958

F9 2.415 0.042 1.08 0.371 0.154 0.927 0.235 0.629

F10 0.936 0.462 0.129 0.971 0.489 0.691 0.603 0.44

F11 1.082 0.376 0.892 0.472 0.349 0.79 0.53 0.468

F12 0.81 0.546 0.401 0.808 0.642 0.59 0.024 0.877

F13 0.865 0.508 3.408 0.012 1.057 0.371 5.168 0.025

F14 1.603 0.168 0.732 0.572 0.268 0.848 0.01 0.919

F15 0.936 0.462 0.858 0.493 0.601 0.616 2.625 0.109

F16 2.994 0.015 0.512 0.727 0.627 0.6 0.492 0.485

F17 1.193 0.319 1.011 0.406 0.66 0.579 0.071 0.79

F18 2.895 0.018 0.501 0.735 0.184 0.907 0.095 0.759

F19 0.403 0.845 1.034 0.395 0.125 0.945 0.007 0.933

F20 1.433 0.22 2.244 0.071 0.619 0.604 0.259 0.612

F21 3.27 0.009 0.532 0.713 1.059 0.371 0.027 0.87

F22 1.26 0.289 4.059 0.005 3.125 0.03 0.479 0.49

F23 0.546 0.741 2.012 0.1 2.505 0.064 2.062 0.154

F24 0.648 0.664 1.007 0.408 1.979 0.123 0.322 0.572

In addition, we have also analyzed the information of the respondents reported to have direct experiences with construction industrialization. As shown in Fig. 4.1, 30.4 respondents have conducted research or consultancy related with industrialized projects, 28.6% have been in charge of design for precast components, 12.5% for assemble of precast components on site, 12.5% for cost control, 12.5% for traditional construction on site, and 3.6% for sale. The average reported precast ratio is 30%, which is quite low as

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compared to developed countries. As illustrated by Fig. 4.2, 46.4% reported industrialized projects are residential building, 23.2% for other types, 14.3% for commercial building, 10.7% for office building and 5.4% for hotel. It can also be found in Fig. 4.3 that the main construction method of the reported industrialized projects is precast (some components) + cast main structure on site, which occupies 83.9% while the percentage of precast (all components) + assemble on site approximately equals to that of precast the whole house + lift on site. This can be used to support why the reported precast ratio is so low. Moreover, it is found from Fig. 4.4 that the structural system of the industrialized projects is mainly concrete and steel while wooden system is negligible.

Fig. 4.1 The involved tasks in the industrialized projects in the survey

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Fig. 4.2 The type of industrialized projects in the survey

Fig. 4.3 The construction method of the industrialized projects in the survey

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Fig. 4.4 The structural system of the industrialized projects in the survey

The analysis on the background information about the respondents can provide detailed

information about the questionnaire survey. In addition, the reports of the respondents

with direct experiences of construction industrialization help us to understand what

happened in the current condition. It also demonstrates that the opinions on the

significance of most tentative factors are not significantly different among the

respondents with different backgrounds. Therefore, the results of the survey can be

considered as a whole for further analysis on the significance of the tentative factors.

4.3 Critical challenges in developing construction

industrialization

Before identifying the critical challenges, statistical analyses were conducted to analyze the data reliability in terms of the adequacy of the group classification of the factors. In general, the adequacy of the group classification is estimated by examining the consistency with which different items within a particular group express the same

30

concept (de Vaus 2002). Reliability of internal consistency is usually measured by Cronbach’s coefficient α. Previous studies suggest that α shall be greater than 0.5 as a minimum, and ideally be greater than 0.7 if the data are considered reliable (e.g. Ceng and Huang 2005). In this survey, the Cronbach’s coefficients are calculated by using the Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) software (SPSS Inc. 2006) as shown in Table 4.5. The calculation results are 0.723 for the policy system group, 0.841 for the technology development group, 0.745 for the construction market group, 0.787 for the company governance group, 0.744 for the society group, and 0.877 for the whole factors. The reliability analysis demonstrated that results of the survey are reliable.

Table 4.5 The reliability analysis for each group and the whole of factors

Group of factors

Factor Scale Mean if Item Deleted

Scale Variance if Item Deleted

Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted

Cronbach Alpha for each group

Cronbach Alpha for the whole factors

F1 7.96 2.042 0.529

F2 7.99 2.272 0.559 Policy system

F3 8.18 2.716 0.772

0.723

F4 19.69 23.282 0.814

F5 19.97 23.445 0.824

F6 20.09 21.753 0.802

F7 19.92 22.375 0.805

F8 19.83 22.97 0.821

F9 20.56 23.336 0.828


F10 19.62 27.107 0.866

0.841

F11 24.17 22.492 0.732

F12 24.34 21.663 0.735

F13 23.99 22.098 0.736

F14 24.28 21.008 0.707

F15 24.65 21.297 0.712

F16 24.58 20.681 0.703

Construction market

F17 23.87 21.201 0.713

0.745

0.877

31

F18 24.01 21.206 0.71

F19 6.4 3.677 0.667

F20 6.61 3.718 0.646 Company governance

F21 6.19 4.093 0.831

0.787

F22 6.31 4.913 0.745

F23 6.25 4.84 0.572 Society

F24 5.72 4.747 0.662

0.744

The mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis values of the 24 tentative factors have been computed through SPSS as shown in Table 4.6. The factors were then ranked by descending the mean value. The factor with small standard deviation shall have higher ranking when several factors have the same mean value. The factor with higher mean value is considered to be more significant to measure the challenges in developing construction industrialization in China. The top ten significant factors are ranked by the mean value in descending order:

F1-Lack of standardization on materials, design, assembly, and construction process (in the group of policy system ,with mean value of 4.11),

F2-Lack of quality certification system (in the group of policy system ,with mean value of 4.08),

F3-Lack of preferential policies on tax, loan, and subsidy (in the group of policy system ,with mean value of 3.88),

F17- Cost pressure at the initial stage (in the group of construction market, with mean value 3.83),

F13- Low willingness of contractors to implement construction industrialization (in the group of construction market, with mean value 3.71),

F18- Uncertainty of market demand (in the group of construction market, with mean value 3.69),

F10- Lack of motivation on technical innovation (in the group of technology development, with mean value 3.66),

F4- Few R&D on standardized construction components (in the group of technology development, with mean value 3.59),

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F11- Separation of design, production, and construction companies (in the group of construction market, with mean value 3.53),

F8- Low level of designing industrialized buildings (in the group of technology development, with mean value 3.45).

Table 4.6 The statistics of the tentative factors (the value of mean in descending order)

Skewness Kurtosis

Ranking Factors Mean Std. Deviation Coefficient

Std. error of skewness

Coefficient Std. error of kurtosis

1 F1 4.11 0.949 -0.764 0.25 -0.079 0.495

2 F2 4.08 0.875 -1.043 0.25 1.715 0.495

3 F3 3.88 0.858 0.021 0.25 -1.218 0.495

4 F17 3.83 1.08 -0.443 0.25 -0.673 0.495

5 F13 3.71 1.119 -0.543 0.25 -0.726 0.495

6 F18 3.69 1.053 -0.427 0.25 -0.316 0.495

7 F10 3.66 1.016 -0.404 0.25 -0.394 0.495

8 F4 3.59 1.045 -0.453 0.25 -0.33 0.495

9 F11 3.53 1.017 -0.201 0.25 -0.808 0.495

10 F8 3.45 1.147 -0.475 0.25 -0.388 0.495

11 F14 3.42 1.067 -0.197 0.25 -0.663 0.495

12 F24 3.42 1.297 -0.4 0.25 -0.865 0.495

13 F21 3.41 1.135 -0.179 0.25 -0.811 0.495

14 F7 3.35 1.1 -0.398 0.25 -0.46 0.495

15 F12 3.35 1.185 -0.165 0.25 -0.674 0.495

16 F5 3.31 1.113 -0.213 0.25 -0.525 0.495

17 F19 3.2 1.109 -0.123 0.25 -0.669 0.495

18 F6 3.19 1.163 -0.219 0.25 -0.796 0.495

19 F16 3.12 1.092 0.016 0.25 -0.613 0.495

20 F15 3.05 1.057 -0.109 0.25 -0.572 0.495

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21 F20 2.99 1.078 0.234 0.25 -0.526 0.495

22 F23 2.89 1.184 0.092 0.25 -0.72 0.495

23 F22 2.83 1.332 0.238 0.25 -1.096 0.495

24 F9 2.72 1.155 0.18 0.25 -0.65 0.495

(1) Policy system on promoting construction industrialization

The top three significant factors are F1-Lack of standardization on materials, design, assembly, and construction process, F2-Lack of quality certification system, and F3-Lack of preferential policies on tax, loan, and subsidy, all of which come from the group of policy system. It seems that the respondents consider that lack of policy relevant to promoting construction industrialization is the largest challenge. However, the development of construction industrialization is closely related to governmental support and guidance through law, regulations and policies in developed countries (Ji, 2011, P29). Developed countries used to set up a lot of standards on construction components, materials, assembly and construction process, which provide good references for relevant stakeholders. Meanwhile, preferential policies on tax, loan, and subsidy were brought forward to encourage companies to adopt construction industrialization and advance the corresponding technologies, and encourage potential consumers to purchase industrialized buildings.

Standardization is the foundation of industrialization. The high level of industrialization in developed countries is the result of a mature structural system and corresponding technologies. However, Chinese construction standardization work is lagging behind. Besides, new building structure system is still in the exploratory stage (Wen, 2010). Furthermore, there is no specific quality certification system for industrialized buildings. As a result, the pilot industrialized buildings delivered by Vanke cannot be formally certified but only recorded by the local government. This problem is a big challenge for most leading companies, which may be otherwise, willing to consider to conduct pilot experiments.

Furthermore, there are nearly no incentive for companies and consumers to construct industrialized buildings and to purchase industrialized buildings respectively. In the initial period of developing construction industrialization, the cost of construction and routine maintenance for industrialized buildings is higher than traditional buildings (Ji, 2011, p72). The higher cost would decrease the market demand and thus lessens the developers’ willingness to conduct relevant research and promotion of construction industrialization. If there are not enough incentives being provided by the government, it

34

is difficult to conduct research and development in corresponding technologies of construction industrialization and to promote industrialized buildings.

(2) Technology development

Among the top ten significant factors, there are three factors from the group of technology development, namely, F10- Lack of motivation on technical innovation, F4- Few R&D on standardized construction components, and F8- Low level of designing industrialized buildings. It is found that the lack of motivation on technical innovation, few R&D on standardized construction components, and the low level of designing industrialized buildings are large challenges except for the factors in the group of policy system and construction market.

For construction industrialization, materials should be supplied all the time and any unnecessary delays should be avoided in the process of construction (Alinaitwe et al., 2006). In order to meet those conditions, large construction elements, including finished and semi-finished products, should be industrialized and precasted to reduce the amount of field work (Wen, 2010). However, in China, construction elements still cannot satisfy the requirement of construction industrialization. Cast-in-situ structure system has significantly reduced the efficiency of construction. In addition, new building structure system is still in the exploratory stage, which does not satisfy the level of requirement for industrialization.

Moreover, the methods adopted in construction industrialization should allow an everlasting flow of inputs and products (Alinaitwe et al., 2006). Whereas, in China, production methods that leads to high level of wastage are still being utilized generally in construction. Power saving, water saving, energy saving, and advanced environmental protection technology has not been generated and popularized in use (Qian and Lu, 2008).

(3) Construction market

Among the top ten significant factors, there are also four factors from the group of construction market, namely, F17- Cost pressure at the initial stage, F13- Low willingness of contractors to implement construction industrialization, F18- Uncertainty of market demand, and F11- Separation of design, production, and construction companies. These factors are mostly significant except for the factors in the group of policy system. The willingness of implementing construction industrialization is quite low due to cost pressure, uncertainty of market demand, and lack of specific policy promoting it.

Also, construction industrialization is a revolutionary process, which should be supported by the whole industry. However, the existing construction industry in China is not well integrated. In order to satisfy the requirements of industrial production and construction

35

diversification at the same time, the design of industrialized buildings should involve the component manufacturing factory to understand the design requirements. However, there are few incentives for the design institutions to conduct design of industrialized buildings due to reasons, such as: (1) site casting is still popular and the catalog of generalized and standardized components has not been formed; (2) the design fees are paid based on the construction areas. However, the workload of design precast components for industrialized buildings is larger than that of design traditional buildings for the same construction areas. Therefore, the design institutions are reluctant to design precast components, and are not motivated to cooperative with other companies to come up with the catalog of generalized and standardized components; (3) only the design institutions have the design qualifications. The component manufacturers have to re-design the products from the design institutions and attain the confirmation of the design institutions, which may largely lower the design efficiency; (4) there are very few assistance tools for designing precast components, which renders design difficulty to the designers; and (5) there are also very few professionals of designing precast components as most professionals are familiar with on site casting at present.

In addition, the present tendering and bidding system also does not suit construction industrialization. The current fixed budget and list pricing is designed for on-site casting, which are not suitable for precast and assembly. Furthermore, the general contractor cannot sub-contract the main structures according to construction bidding law. However, most general contractors do not have the capacity of assembling precast components, which means sub-contract of the main structures is indispensible for industrialized buildings. Therefore, the contract approach of main structure should be redefined in order to promote construction industrialization.

(4) Company governance and society

The present construction management does not fit construction industrialization, especially in the aspect of equipment and employees. Mechanized equipment still cannot satisfy the requirements of implementing construction industrialization in the industry. A high degree of mechanization and automation is needed in construction industrialization so as to minimize delays and wastage (Alinaitwe et al., 2006). At present, the level of mechanization and automation of the construction process is unable to realize this objective. Most importantly, migrant worker is a main part of the construction capacity on site. The migrant workers’ quality is not good with low wages, which presents challenges for construction industrialization. On the one hand, construction industrialization requires certain skills to assemble construction components on site. Presently, the workers cannot satisfy the required level of workmanship. On the other hand, currently the cost of labors is much lower than the cost of equipment in China. The companies have no incentive to replace labors with equipment or industrial production methods.

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However, the respondents consider three factors from the group of company governance, namely F19-Unfit corporate culture (ranked in 17 among 24), F20-Unfit corporate organization (ranked in 21 among 24), and F21- Lack the team with long-term cooperative experiences (ranked in 13 among 24) less significant. They also consider the three factors from the group of society, namely F22- Worries on unemployment of migrant workers (ranked in 23 among 24), F23- Attitude of the public on industrialized buildings (ranked in 22 among 24), and F24- Worries on single architecture form (ranked in 12 among 24) less significant. The findings imply that if proper policy system is established and appropriate incentives are provided in technology development and construction market, construction companies are more likely to adapt to the trend of implementing construction industrialization and the society will also accept it.

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5. Conclusions and Recommendations

5.1 Conclusions

With urbanization advances and economic development, demands on construction are increasing. It is estimated that by 2025, 350 million will be added to China’s urban population, 40 billion square meters of floor space in five million buildings will be built while 50,000 of these buildings could be skyscrapers, which is equivalent to constructing up to ten New York cities (McKinsey & Company, 2008). However, 90% of the existing buildings are high-energy buildings and occupy 42.3% of the total energy consumption. The construction industry in China is therefore a critical industry to achieve the aims of energy saving. Meanwhile, people’s demands on the buildings’ quality and satisfaction would improve gradually. How to deliver high-quality building is an opportunity but also is a challenge for construction industrialization.

This report adopted content analysis to explore the historical development and status quo of construction industrialization, and identify the challenges for developing construction industrialization in China. The follows summarized the main findings in this report:

(1) construction industrialization has passed through three main periods in the 20th century in China

Chinese construction industrialization has been developed gradually with the progress of urbanization after the establishment of PRC in 1949. It was the infancy period of promoting construction industrialization from 1950s to 1960s. During this period, all industries including the construction industry faced a transition from traditional handicrafts to mechanical industrialization. Construction industrialization was started at the first five-year plan period (1953-1957), by referring to the experiences of the former Soviet Union. Brick-concrete structure and concrete structure were adopted to advance the development of the construction industry. With the technological development, the initial foundation of mass production and mechanized construction developed quickly, which plays a major role in the development of the national economy during this period.

It was a rapid development period of construction industrialization from 1970s to 1980s. During the “Cultural Revolution” period (1966 to 1976), most residential construction was suspended and construction industrialization recorded no real progress. However, construction industrialization had undergone systematic and fruitful explorations since the “reform and opening up” policy established in 1978. These explorations can be found as follows:

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Various forums and conferences were held by the governments and academics to summarize the experiences and explore the orientation of construction industrialization.

It was clearly put forward that construction industrialization should focus on standardization of architectural design, industrial production of construction components and parts, mechanization of construction process, and reform of wall materials.

Changzhou in Jiangsu Province and Nanning in Guangxi Province were selected as the two pilot cities for implementing construction industrialization, the experiences of which were intended to be generalized throughout the nation.

Several national standards with respect to construction industrialization had also been issued. “Standard of modular coordination on industrial buildings” (GBJ 6-86) and “Uniform standards of modular coordination on buildings” (GBJ 2-86) were issued in 1987.

New factories producing precast components and parts, wall panels, kitchens and sanitary wares, doors and windows, concrete mixing station, were established to promote construction industrialization. The national annual production of precast concrete reached 25 million m3 and in some major cities, the amount of precast concrete was more than that of the casting concrete.

Large panel system buildings were adopted for erection in large and medium-sized cities. Production lines of wallboard were set up in cities such as Beijing and Tianjing. The production process of large panel system building had achieved mechanization and semi-automation. The production capacity of components and parts for large panel system building reached 500,000 m2 per year (about 30,000 units of houses) in 1987. 7,000,000 m2 of large panel has been constructed until the late 1980s

It was a stagnant period of developing construction industrialization in 1990s. Construction industrialization attained some positive outcomes through developing “well-off residential building”, such as formulating some promotion policies, and establishing Promotion Center of Construction Industrialization. However, construction industrialization was a little stagnant mainly due to two reasons. Firstly, some state leaders considered construction industrialization as real estate development. The promotion of construction industrialization was therefore stopped as the state tried to control the bubble of real estate development by then. Secondly, the developers considered that the standardized components and parts resulted in less diversification. The developers had no willingness to promote it in the construction market. Therefore, the campaign of construction industrialization became silent in the late 1990s.

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(2) the level of construction industrialization is quite low while several leading companies/institutions have been re-exploring construction industrialization

Although construction industrialization has gained some grounds, it records little advancement at the beginning of the 21st century, which can be found as follows:

At the beginning of the 21st century, several policies not directly related to construction industrialization have been issued. However, these policies neither promote construction industrialization with specific measures nor lay a solid foundation for solving the technical problems.

The standardization system for construction industrialization has not been established, although some separate standardization has been issued. This separate standardization could not form a satisfactory standardization system as the standards only partly relate to construction industrialization and the standard mainly effects at the level of association.

The level of prefabrication is quite low, as only some primary precast components such as slabs are employed and structural system has not achieved prefabrication

The level of mechanization and automation is comparatively low. “Outlines for the development of construction industrialization” issued by the former Ministry of Construction in 1995, even required the ratio of mechanized equipment’s power to employees should reach 8KW/person by end of the 20th century. However, even the highest rate of equipment power is less than 8 KW/person, as refer to the objective set in 1995.

There is no robotics and reproduction. Chinese construction industrialization is featured by precast concrete components, earthwork construction, and mechanized construction. Robotics and reproduction is merely realized at present.

(3) the critical challenges in construction industrialization lie in three aspects, namely policy system, construction market and technology development

Based on the content analysis, a questionnaire survey was conducted to identify the challenges in promoting construction industrialization. It is found that the main challenges come from policy system (including F1-Lack of standardization on materials, design, assembly, and construction process, F2-Lack of quality certification system, and F3-Lack of preferential policies on tax, loan, and subsidy), technology development (including F10- Lack of motivation on technical innovation, F4- Few R&D on standardized construction components, and F8- Low level of designing industrialized

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buildings), and construction market (including F17- Cost pressure at the initial stage, F13- Low willingness of contractors to implement construction industrialization, F18- Uncertainty of market demand, and F11- Separation of design, production, and construction companies). Although the current corporate governance might not fit the trend of construction industrialization, it is considered less significant than the other factors. In addition, worries on unemployment of migrant workers, worries on single architecture form, and attitude of the public on industrialized buildings are also less challengeable, as the public is expected to accept the industrialized buildings if they are good enough.

5.2 Recommendations

In order to overcome the challenges and to substantively promote construction industrialization in China, several recommendations have been summarized as follows:

(1) Improving the policy system of promoting construction industrialization

Although there are some policies promoting construction industrialization, some specific implementation measures should be made. By referring to foreign experiences and the demand in China, standardization on materials, design, assembly, and construction process should be studied and specified. In addition, corresponding quality certification system should be established. Moreover, preferential policies on tax, loan, and subsidy should be specified to promote designing, constructing and purchasing of industrialized buildings. With the strength of planned-market economy, the government can establish national bases or industrial parks for construction industrialization, thus leads to industry conglomeration and economies of scale. These national bases should be well-planned with reasonable distributions through the country in order to avoid waste of repeated constructions. All levels of local government should be mobilized to put construction industrialization on agenda and push forward the reformation of the construction industry.

(2) Localizing the industrialization method

The government should encourage and to provide subsidy for joint research by research institutions, design and construction companies in order to explore suitable industrialization method(s) in China. All the standardization on materials, design, assembly, and construction process, used materials, structural system should meet the demand of the Chinese market. The steel system can be taken for more considerations for the following reasons: (a) the steel system is safe and environment-friendly with low carbon emission, which satisfies the demand of sustainable development; (b) the steel used in buildings occupies only 3.5%~4% of the total steel production, among which the steel used for steel system is only 10%. There is still a big space to improve compared to

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the practices in the developed countries; and (c) developing steel system can be used to overcome the problems of overproduction in the steel industry.

(3) Improving the construction market

As the separation of design, production, and construction companies brings obstacles to explore construction industrialization by a single company, the government can promote suitable industry integration by making specific industry planning and support several leading institutions to conduct relevant research. Appropriate incentive measures should be made to reduce the worries on initial burdens of implementing construction industrialization. Also, traditional practice and measures for the construction industry, such as tender and bidding system should be adjusted to suite the demand of construction industrialization. Moreover, special attentions should be paid to professional training of construction industrialization. The government can cooperate with the research and training institutions to promote professional training among the technician staffs in the construction industry.

(4) Promoting construction industrialization in public

Although the survey found that public concern on construction industrialization is less significant, it is still meaningful to promote construction industrialization more forcefully. The government should disseminate the general knowledge about the advantages of construction industrialization to attract potential home buyers. In addition, the government may consider promoting construction industrialization in public houses, through which the public can find the real benefits of construction industrialization. The comprehension and acceptance of construction industrialization can reduce the uncertainty in the market, which further provides incentives for construction companies to construct industrialized buildings.

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Appendices

Questionnaire Survey on the hindrance factors for promoting construction industrialization in China

Dear Sir/Madam,

Would you please take several minutes of your precious time to complete the enclosed questionnaire.

We are the CIB Student Chapter at the Dept. of Building and Real Estate of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. We are conducting a research on the hindrance factors for promoting construction industrialization in China. Construction industry, one of the pillar industries in China, plays an important role in the urbanization process. However, in the past years, Chinese construction industry was criticized for low quality, large energy consumption, low safety record, and the sustainability performance of which is fairly low. Construction industrialization could contribute to promote the sustainability performance of the construction industry, which has gained general consensus in foreign countries.

Construction industrialization means adopting the way of large-scale industrial production to construct buildings. For different types of buildings, unified structural system and standardized construction components to be produced in factory, and transported to site and assembled with machines. The core concept of construction industrialization is standardization, systemization, mechanization and scientific management. Although Chinese construction industry has practiced a lot since PRC established in 1949, construction industrialization has gained little progress in China. Compared to traditional construction, promoting construction industrialization faces plenty of hindrances such as policy system, technology development, construction market. Many studies have been conducted on the difficulties of promoting construction industrialization oversea. Yet, similar study is still limited, not comprehensive and not systematic in China. Therefore, the aim of this survey is to identify the critical hindrance factors for promoting construction industrialization in China. We believe the findings from this survey would provide good references for the government and relevant stakeholders to promote construction industrialization.

The questionnaire aims to collect opinions of governmental officers and professionals. Your response will remain strictly confidential. If you can provide your contact information in your reply, we would be most happy to share our findings with you (subject to sufficient returns).

Your kind assistance would be most appreciated. Please complete the questionnaire and send it back to us by using email on or before 31st July. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at Tel No (+852) 2766 5872/(86) 15018963152 or email: [email protected]

Looking forward to receiving your early reply. Yours faithfully, Peng Yi PhD Candidate, Dept. of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University President of HK PolyU CIB Student Chapter (2012/2013)

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The questionnaire has two parts:

Part I: Personal information; Part II: Assess the importance of the hindrance factors for promoting construction industrialization in China. Would you please mark the importance according to your views and experiences (Single choice, would you please tick the corresponding ☐)

There are five levels of importance: 1-least significant 2-fairly significant 3-significant 4-very significant 5-extremely significant

Notice：Would you please click the corresponding ☐ .

Part I: Personal information 1. Work Unit

2. Job Title

3. Years of Working Relevant to Construction

4. Whether your experience of construction industrialization is direct or indirect

(If “Direct”, please see the following questions; otherwise please turn to Part II )

A. The type of the involved industrialized construction project:

5. % B. The precast ratio of the involved industrialized construction project: % C. The construction method of the involved industrialized construction project:

D. The type of precast structural system in the involved industrialized construction project:

E. The specific task you involved in the industrialized construction project:

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Part II: Assessment on the importance of the hindrance factors for promoting construction industrialization in China

Group

No

Hindrance factor

level of importance

Explanation

H1 Lack of standardization on materials, design, assembly, and construction process

Standardization provides the baseline for promoting construction industrialization

H2 Lack of quality certification system Quality certification system provides references for supervising industrialized

buildings

Policy system

H3 Lack of preferential policies on tax, loan, and subsidy Preferential policies can promote construct and purchase industrialized buildings

H4 Few R&D on standardized construction components Standardized construction components is the basic element for industrialized

buildings

H5 Low level of industrial production of construction components

Industrial production of construction components can reduce the cost and provide the base for large-scale practices

H6 Low level of assembly technology Assembly technology influences the construction progress on site

H7 Low level of mechanization and automation in construction The level of mechanization and automation affects the level of industrialization

H8 Low level of designing industrialized buildings Current design company have few experiences of designing industrialized buildings

H9 Low level of effectively transporting precast components

The volume of precast components is large, which presents difficulties of transporting to the site


H10 Lack of motivation on technical innovation Technical innovation is the base for promoting construction industrialization

H11 Separation of design, production, and construction companies

Separation blocks the formation of industry chain and increases the cost of industrialized buildings

Construction market

H12 Unfit tender and bidding system Current tender and bidding system is unfit for construction industrialization

Least extremely significant significant

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H13 Low willingness of contractors to implement construction industrialization

Most contractors rely on traditional construction, lack of willingness of promoting

H14 Lack of design institutions and designer for industrialized buildings

Design institutions and designer for industrialized buildings are the base for promoting construction industrialization

H15 Lack of precast components manufacturers and suppliers Lack of precast components manufacturers cannot provide effective precast

components

H16 Lack of technician for assembling precast components on site

Lack of technician for assembling influences the construction progress on site

H17 Cost pressure at the initial stage The cost pressure is high before large-scale practice of construction industrialization

H18 Uncertainty of market demand Market demand on industrialized buildings is uncertain

H19 Unfit corporate culture The corporate culture would affect the choice between traditional construction and construction industrialization

H20 Unfit corporate organization The corporate organization influences the exploration of construction industrialization

Company governance

H21 Lack the team with long-term cooperative experiences High mobility of employee influences promotion of construction industrialization

H22 Worries on unemployment of migrant workers Promoting construction industrialization would raise the worries on unemployment

of migrant workers

H23 Attitude of the public on industrialized buildings The public might not accept

Society

H24 Worries on single architecture form Standardization of the components raise the worries on single architecture form

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If there are any other factors based on your professional knowledge, please specify the factors and the significance level

Group

No

Hindrance factor

level of importance

Explanation

If you have any other comments related to this study, please put forward

1 11

<The End>

Thank you so much again for your kind assistance to complete this questionnaire. Please send the questionnaire to [email protected]

If you are interested in this study, please leave your email, we would send a report to you after completing the study.

Your email: 11

Least extremely significant significant

52

Thank you for your contribution!

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