In the quest of architects, engineering contractors, architects, and even clients to establish most appropriate and suitable ways to improve viability in their construction projects, steadily increasing trends have been observed in the application of modular construction solutions all over Australian building and construction industry (Musa, Yusof, Mohammad & Mahbub, 2014). Modular structures are typically buildings or structures that are assembled at the site of construction and do not involves normal construction processes. The use and application of modules in Australian construction and development sector have tremendously increased over the past few years, and this trend is steadily increased day by day. Modular construction techniques are one of the first growing modes of building construction in Australia since it incorporates the use of almost neglected traditional construction techniques together with these more efficient and effective advanced technologies to provide smart projects to clients (Woo, 2017).
Modular structures are prefabricated buildings made up of repeated components and elements referred to modules. The process of joining these elements that are prefabricated in off-site industries after they have been delivered to the construction site to make complete structure is the modular construction. Mode of the arrangement of these components to make a structure can either be end-to-end, stacked, or side-by-side, giving different configurations of modern structural styles.
The popularity in the use of modular buildings both in construction of commercial and residential structures in Australia has been fueled by the numerous technological inventions and advancements in the construction industry over the past decade. These advancements are manifested by the introduction intelligent machines that work on automation; these machines have relieved contractors from the use of unreliable human labor as new devices can effectively handle heavy lifting of loads as they navigate around construction sites (Kamali & Hewage, 2016).
Prefabricated modular construction is currently being used in almost all forms of constructions, that their use range from fleet construction where of-site parts and pieces are carefully transported to the shores where they are assembled to form a complete fleet. This has shortened the time it used to take for construction of fleets and development of ships has become simple and easy since most of these parts are pre-fabricated in the manufacturing industry in specific shapes and sizes, relieving contractors from the laborious work of cutting into pieces and shapes and sizes before fixing.
This project is based on finding the fundamental uses of modular structures in the Australian construction industry with its associated advantages and benefits in the construction and development sector. It also focuses on the various challenges that modular construction is battling within the formwork dominated environment with possible mitigation strategies from these challenges (Navaratnam, Ngo, Gunawardena & Henderson, 2019)
The main objective of this project is to evaluate and analyze the representation assessment on uses of modular structures in Australian building and construction industry, highlighting reasons for its popularity while noting some challenges that modular structures face with possible solutions to the notated challenges. Exploring available opportunities for modular structures in Australia as it is integrated with BIM
To highlight reasons why there is a high demand on modular structures in Australian Construction sector.
To identify and highlight different advantages of modular construction to the Australian economy
To conduct comprehensive research on the possible opportunities in modular construction while noting challenges facing modular structures in Australia.
The use of modules in modular construction gives I a provision to be used both for permanent or temporary structures. Since its adoption by contractors, most facilities are now constructed in modules, and mostly in urban areas, most retail shops implement modular construction in erecting both permanent and temporary premises. These facilities include homes, classrooms in schools, camps, civilian and military housings, health centers, churches, ship construction, retail and sales offices and fast-food restaurants all over Australia. Modular structures serve as lean building method where parts are pre-fabricated off-site in more quality controlled industries before they are finally delivered for construction. The reason for its universal use is that it makes same use of architectural specifications, materials and traditional construction modes in construction process (Ferdous, Bai, Ngo, Manalo, & Mendis, 2019).
Fast and steady growth in the Australian population demands that social amenities such as hospitals are well spread amongst her population. Modular structures have been a great relief to the government to provide adequate health care centers to almost every district at low cost compared to if conventional techniques were used. Modular structures facilitate the expansion of existing medical facilities through addition of more structure on buildings to enhance patient capacity. Modular structures have helped in establishment of makeshift medical centers in remote areas and even in situation where immediate medicinal attentions are required such as during disaster outbreak like flood. Clinics, laboratories and clean rooms made of modular components can easily be installed and removed after they have served their function, they allow establishment of facilities with customized specification such as particular workstation for patient privacy and testing (Lacey, Chen, Hao, & Bi, 2018)
There is significant difference on the structural appearance of homes now compared to how they were 2008. Current designs are more appealing to the eye due to their spectacular beauty brought about by use of modules in their construction, with tall buildings made of modular construction within Australian estates. Modular buildings are the trend in construction of homes since the cost of constructing a unit using modules saves approximately 15% of the total cost compared to conventional methods (Said, Ali, & Alshehri, 2014). Again it gives middle incomers to own sleek homes that initially proved to be expensive to have because of the enormous expenses associated with them. The uses of prefabricated modules with customized designs offer many clients savings and reduction in time for construction process (Dupwa, 2017).
Modular buildings offer condominiums, student hostels, and workforce accommodation in about double the times’ traditional buildings could offer. More cities like Melbourne are turning to modular structures to address the pandemonium issue of house shortage as the cost and logistic arrangements in construction using conventional continues to rise to unattainable levels making them unreliable to afford the labor and other expenses.
Modular structure has proved to be the ideal solution to fast-growing district schools in Australia, with the recent increasing enrollment of students to schools, yet there are limited spaces for permanent expansion of classrooms. These modular structures, in many cases, have served as temporary solutions for the overwhelming students’ population while ministry of education still establishing permanent solutions to curb overcrowding of students in confined classrooms. Prefabricated structures have also allowed for customization of daycares and classrooms with entryways and ramps to comfortable accommodate students who are abled differently in with Australians with Disabilities Act (ADC) and can be fitted with other learning aids such as video screens, audio enhancers, workstation, computer equipment, soundproofing, and noise reduction ceilings (Novikov & Novikov, 2018).
Modular building has enabled construction of guardhouses, security dispatch offices for security officers hence providing an enabling environment for perfect service delivery. Construction of scaled structures that are mostly used by traffic officers to monitor over speeding of vehicles on the highway, weight stations and traffic conditions on roads, Development of intercom systems, transaction windows, and tempered glasses are easily fabricated with prefabricated structures.
This is the sector with most applications of modular structures industrial and commercial complexes are nowadays constructed using modules, and the accessible open office layout does not require complete walls and partition thus prefabricated structure serves best in construction of these offices. Modular buildings can either be permanent or temporary, and this makes them easily re-configure and allows expansion in case the needs to expand offices arise these structures are mostly used in construction of interim office, remote retail centers, administrative buildings, restrooms, fast food restaurants, pump houses, and even motor control centers (Lang, Wilson, Blackman, Gillespie, Krieg. & Uddin, 2019.).
Through versatility and reliability of modular structures is an additional feature of these structures that ensures that there are countless options and design that allows cli9ent to have variety to choose from (Clemens, 2018). Before settling to any project6 of modular construction clients need to have a brief insight about the requirements and at least what it entails by having consideration on whether the structure was chosen fulfill their desires and requirements this helps to make decisions that enhance cost reduction in construction without compromising on structural quality (Jenks, 2015)
Modular buildings have numerous advantages over traditional modes of construction, and through these advantages, it the trendy mode of construction used in most Australia construction. Some of these advantages are;
Human population has grown to the extent that space available has become limited yet demand for housing is increasing day by day, modular structure provides solution to this since they cover spaces for construction and some structures can be piled, resized and even stacked to conserve on space unlike to traditional mode of construction (Miyatake, 2016).
Modular construction ensures a fantastic level and standards of safety for workers and to the surrounding environment compared to conventional methods of construction since most of operations are done off-site in industries and transported to the site for assemble to form structures, there are reduced danger and hazards unlike traditional modes (Vanegas, DuBose & Pearce, 2015)
For quite sometimes the world has viewed global states of recession as industries and authorities lack enough funds and cash flow they once had (Sev, 2014). Modular is hugely cost effective compared to conventional methods of construction thus it provides an alternative method to use in times of monetary crisis. Governments or even individuals with limited funds can still have luxury buildings at a lower cost as compared to traditional building methods (Hwang. & Tan, 2012)
Five states in Australia that are Queensland, New South Wales, Kingstone, South Australia, and Victoria, collectively account for approximately 78% of prefabricated multi-family suits and units within Australia, the demand for these modular structures in the above-mentioned states are high to the tune that the local modular construction companies are overwhelmed, and this has seen more international contractors in the country to help meet the demand. These demands for modular residential buildings in major cities of Australia have increased by 14.7% than 17624 residential units in 2018 from 15366 units in 2016. This affected the works of conventional buildings in their drop by approximately 5% in the past 3 years. And constructions of prefabricated buildings are fast but steadily encroaching into other towns of Australia such as Port Pirie, Sydney, etc. (Shen, Wu, Chan & Hao, J2015)
Modula structures have changed the dynamics of operation in the hotel and accommodation industry. This was evident when guests are now required to make bookings and check inns at least months earlier since fast construction of these accommodation facilities comes with short falling of hosting limited capacity at a time (Wong, Hao & Ho, 2013,). Therefore to avoid last-minute rush for one who need to get accommodation in one of this prestigious architectural modular, they need to make early bookings. Prominent business and hospitality centers that previously were established in conventional structures are slowly making a shift to modular structures to supplement their facilities
Initially, single modular structures could be observed in few schools within Australia to now complete educational structures fr5om classrooms to lecture halls and accommodation hostels both in public and private sector over a short period what was not easy to achieve by convention methods of constructions. Modular constructions of schools have added advantages since they are customized according to client’s specification to provide enabling environment for student’s learning process. The permanent modular construction of school classrooms in Australia hs been consistent over the past four years from approximately 3500 units to about 4300 units yearly, with Melbourne, Sydney, and Kingstone leading in these developments
Modular structures has enhanced how the state emergency and disaster management department and agencies such as red cross respond to the rescue of individuals affected when such undesirables occur, as stated by Red Cross officer when engaged that has never been any other means of providing fast transitional accommodation and basic needs following occurrence of natural disaster than use relocatable modular structures. They can be efficiently and quickly be erected in response to emergency shelter, educational purpose, accommodation of relief volunteers or even medical centers.
Despite the popularity in use of modular structures in construction of buildings, the application and establishment of this mode have faced quite several drawbacks that directly and indirectly affect operations involved. The following are some of the challenges faced by modular contractors building and construction ;( Kamali & Hewage, 2016)
By virtue standards, any construction activities requires robust regulation and checkups to ensure that all built structures follow all the construction codes as outlined in AS1170, Operational Safety and Health agencies OSHA, Basic and National Building Codes (BNCA), Standard Building Codes (SBC), Uniform Building Codes (UBC), BIM and other regulators to ensure that construction considers safety procedures in their construction (Smith, 2014.). Urbanization of Australia rural centers is rapidly rising, and this is accompanied with quick demand of residential structures, however the rules and regulations set for construction practice are generalized for both conventional and modular modes of construction hence the slow process of obtaining permits and safety assessments by relevant authorities takes time, prolonging the construction period of these modular structures (Smith, 2014.)..
Culture is the identity of any community that lives together, and mostly the elderly ensures that traditional norms and ways of life are maintained as they are transferred from generation to generation. It has been a challenge to sell modular ideas to communities that hold strong beliefs on their traditional structural styles to change to something they term new hence hindering spread of modular structures into remote areas in Australia (Atazadeh, Kalantari, Rajabifard. & Ho, 2017).
Since there are few manufacturers of construction materials and modules used in modular construction within Australia makes it a challenge to have enough construction materials to match high demand of these structures. This, at times forces modular contractors to import these materials overseas where their prices are escalated to almost double price locally, making it quite expensive to a more substantial majority (Hadzaman, Takim & Nawawi, 2015,).
Modular buildings re preferred for their advantage that they are less involving in terms of labor requirement since most of construction materials are prefabricated off-site. Transportation of these materials from manufacturing companies to construction sites has proved to be challenge especially when materials are of larger sizes and shapes (Doan, Ghaffarianhoseini, Naismith, Zhang, Tookey & Ghaffarianhoseini, 2018). Transportation requires special spacious trucks. The roads leading to most sites are not wide enough for these special trucks to move through to the site. When the infrastructure is good enough might cause breakage of construction materials during transportation; for example, timber modules might break or deform.
Building and construction industry is a competitive sector that has a lot of pressure from both ends, as some of the clients give short construction periods not considering the occurrence of uncertainties ad delays from external forces such as regulatory agencies as most clients state that if the fabrications cannot be timely then modular structures have no more advantage over conventional methods (Mostafa, Kim & Rahnamayiezekavat,, 2017.). Clients don’t consider microeconomics that is associated with the construction of buildings such as global financial crisis modular construction, though to some extent, this microeconomics are not much related to competition with conventional methods of building construction.
Construction involving modular structures is no other construction process since it requires high precision in joining parts together to bring out perfect structure just as they are outlined in the plan. Experts in this field are few in Australia since the framework on the formal network on this sector is still developing, yet demand is high, the few available are overwhelmed by the daily demand for these structures (Choi, Chen. & Kim, 2019).
Conclusion
Concluding on the research conducted and findings presented in this project, it is more evident that modular structures are the structures of the future due to their numerous advantages over conventional buildings. They are cost effective in terms of labor expenses and material acquisition. Use of modular construction helps in saving up to about 26% of the total project costing as compared to traditional methods of building construction
According to Shrapnel’s analysis, it is worth noting that the future of modular construction is very positive in Australia, and this will remain an exception rather than a collective average growth since its market is considered to be of short time due to the high demand for these components by contractors. He further predicts that the peak will not only be on the fully installed modular structure, but even to those who already have structures will prefer modular components for the resizing and partitioning of their buildings. The increasing use of modular components in Australia has provided a supporting technique in the increasing trend in Australian construction industry with their signature in sustainability and their cost-effectiveness.
Finally, the Australian government initiative to implement Building Information Modelling BIM in the construction industry through construction projects in Queensland is a kind gesture that there is advancement on how construction operations need to be handled to conform with other international standards. Organizing all structural information in centralized database helps in planning of construction schedule and saves time during construction process.
References
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