Environmental Sustainability of Off-Site Construction in Developed and Developing Regions: A Systematic Review

Jayawardana, J.; Kulatunga, Asela K.; Jayasinghe, J. A. S. C.; Sandanayake, Malindu; Zhang, Kevin

doi:10.1061/jaeied.aeeng-1420

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 121 publications

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“…There is limited research in the literature scrutinizing buildings' space efficiency [29]. Additionally, extensive research has been conducted on the technical, ecological, social, and economic aspects of timber constructions (e.g., [30][31][32][33][34]), while no study has explored the concept of space efficiency in timber buildings. Among the various types of timber apartment buildings constructed in Finland, mid-rise timber apartment buildings are the most frequently encountered [35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Space Efficiency in Finnish Mid-Rise Timber Apartment Buildings

Tuure,

Ilgın

2023

Buildings

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As in many other building types, space efficiency in mid-rise timber apartment buildings is one of the critical design parameters to make a project feasible. Space efficiency depends on varying selection criteria related to construction materials, construction methods, and proper planning. To date, no study provides a comprehensive understanding of space efficiency in mid-rise timber apartment buildings. This paper examined data from 55 Finnish mid-rise timber apartment buildings built between 2018 and 2022 under the Finnish Land Use and Building Act to increase the understanding of which factors and design parameters influence the space efficiency of mid-rise timber apartment buildings. The main findings of this study indicated that: (1) among the case studies, the space efficiency ranged from 77.8% to 87.9%, and the average was 83%; (2) the mean values of the ratios of structural wall area to gross floor area, vertical circulation area to gross floor area, and technical spaces (including shafts) to gross floor area were found to be 12.9%, 2.6%, and 1.5%, respectively; (3) construction methods or shear wall materials make no significant difference in terms of space efficiency, and there is no scientific correlation between the number of stories and space efficiency; (4) the best average space efficiency was achieved with central core type, followed by peripheral core arrangement. This research will contribute to design guidelines for clients, developers, architects, and other construction professionals of mid-rise timber apartment building projects.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Space Efficiency in Finnish Mid-Rise Timber Apartment Buildings

Tuure,

Ilgın

2023

Buildings

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“…The LCA approach has been adopted effectively in the construction sector for over 20 years to conduct systematic and comprehensive environmental assessments [13]. According to the ISO 14040 series, ISO 14040:2006 describes the principles and framework for LCA, including the four main stages of LCA (goal and scope, life cycle inventory analysis, life cycle impact assessment, and interpretation) [38].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hence, Sri Lankan construction project stakeholders should collaborate to identify and formulate strategies to adopt CE-integrated MC practices in future construction projects. The current post-COVID-19 economic crisis directly affected the Sri Lankan construction industry by spiking material, fuel and logistic costs, causing projects to be at a standstill [39,51]. Hence, longterm philosophies are necessary in the construction sector to overcome these downfalls.…”

Section: Practical Implications To the Sri Lankan Modular Constructio...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The adoption of modular construction technologies in developing regions such as South Asia is slow compared to developed and industrialised economies [13]. Furthermore, there is limited research evaluating the environmental sustainability of MC practices using methodologies such as life cycle assessment (LCA) in the South Asian context [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluating the Circular Economy Potential of Modular Construction in Developing Economies—A Life Cycle Assessment

Jayawardana,

Sandanayake,

Kulatunga

et al. 2023

Sustainability

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Circular economy (CE) is an emergent concept that promotes resource circularity in multiple product systems. Modular construction (MC), an evolving construction technique, which includes an off-site manufacturing environment, increasingly supports CE strategies such as reuse due to the elevated potential for design for disassembly (DfD). Design-stage environmental assessments are paramount in aiding the early decision making of modular construction projects to successfully plan and implement DfD strategies. Research on synergising modular construction, circular economy and environmental sustainability is rare in developing economies. Thus, the current study aims to conduct a design-stage life cycle assessment of a DfD and linear versions of a modular building unit in Sri Lanka to evaluate the potential environmental benefits. The life cycle assessment results highlight that the DfD strategy has the lowest environmental impacts in all categories, with a 63% reduction in global warming potential and an approximately 90% reduction in terms of human toxicity compared to the linear version. Further, it showed the elevated potential of reuse compared to recycling practices in improving the environmental performance. Sensitivity assessment revealed that steel was the most sensitive to the change in reuse percentage among main building materials. The analysis outcomes highlight the importance of long-term thinking, architectural design creativity and industrial and technology development to uptake the CE-driven MC in the Sri Lankan context. Finally, strategies are proposed to support the CE approach in MC in developing regions. Both quantitative and qualitative outcomes provide a basis for construction industry stakeholders, academia, and policy makers to explore further and promote modular construction practices to enhance the circularity of building materials and components in developing regions.

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“…Furthermore, scholars at home and abroad have carried out in-depth researches on the economic benefits, social benefits, ecological benefits, and life cycle construction costs of prefabricated construction, owing to fact that the economic factors have a significant effect on the development of prefabricated construction. The obtained results demonstrate that the factors, including the supply chain inconsistency, inadequate management systems and supporting standards, inadequate policy implementation, and immature technology, are all have restrictions on the development of prefabricated construction [5][6][7][8][9][10]. Based on the unfavorable effect of these factors on the development of prefabricated construction, the government has optimized top-level design and introduced relevant policies, to adjust the market structure to stimulate the coordinated development of the prefabricated industry chain in recent years.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation the Incentive Mechanism of Prefabricated Building from Numerical Simulation of Evolutionary Game

Jianlin Mao, Jingnan Zhang , Siyue Kuang

2024

jes

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The prefabricated building is significance to promote high-quality transformation of construction industry on the building. However, the development of prefabricated market on building are restricted due to unsound management system and inadequate policy implementation. This paper investigates the dynamic strategy choices among the government, construction units and component companies in promoting the prefabricated buildings from the perspective of government incentives, by introducing the evolutionary game theory. The dynamic evolution paths of both players under different factors are investigated through MATLAB numerical simulation. Correspondingly, the incentive mechanism of prefabricated building is discussed based on the obtained numerical simulation results. Finally, the scientific and reasonable formulation of incentive policies for the prefabricated buildings are provided based on the theoretical analysis and numerical simulation results.

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Environmental Sustainability of Off-Site Construction in Developed and Developing Regions: A Systematic Review

Cited by 14 publications

References 121 publications

Space Efficiency in Finnish Mid-Rise Timber Apartment Buildings

Space Efficiency in Finnish Mid-Rise Timber Apartment Buildings

Evaluating the Circular Economy Potential of Modular Construction in Developing Economies—A Life Cycle Assessment

Investigation the Incentive Mechanism of Prefabricated Building from Numerical Simulation of Evolutionary Game

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