Environmental sustainability of off-site manufacturing: a literature review

Abstract

Purpose Off-site manufacturing (OSM) is a modern method of construction that brings various environmental sustainability benefits for stakeholders. The increasing take-up of OSM in practice has attracted much research interest in its environmental sustainability. However, a holistic understanding of these previous research studies is still lacking. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to critically review the existing body of knowledge regarding the environmental sustainability of OSM. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative content analysis was adopted to systematically and objectively review 55 related historical studies. Findings Three research themes were identified, including environmental sustainability assessment and performance, environmental sustainability strategies and critical environmental sustainability factors. A detailed discussion of the three themes was conducted to depict a whole picture of the current explorations in the research field. Additionally, a research framework was developed to articulate the interrelationship between the research themes and their specific research topics. Scientific research gaps were identified together with the future research directions in terms of sustainability strategies, performance impacting factors, sustainability indicators and drawbacks resulted from OSM application. Originality/value The literature review promotes construction stakeholders’ in-depth understanding about the environmental sustainability of OSM, which offers valuable implications for green industry practice. Additionally, it highlights the future research trends, which facilitates further explorations in the research area.

An Analysis on Promoting Prefabrication Implementation in Construction Industry towards Sustainability

“…According to Jaillon et al [34], prefabrication application increased the average construction and demolition waste reduction level to 52%. On the one hand, the application of prefabricated construction combined with some emerging technologies, such as Building Information Modelling (BIM, a developing technology to form, organize, and manage throughout the construction project [35], radio frequency identification (RFID, a technology that used radio waves to identify objects [36], and Internet of Things (IoT, a new technology paradigm that was conceived to realize the interaction of machines and devices around the world [37]), reduced the production of construction waste at sources [5,38]. On the other hand, during the manufacturing stage, a large amount of wet work was transferred to the factory, prefabricated components were produced in a mechanized, standardized, and intelligent production line, resulting in a significant reduction in waste generation [39].…”

“…The air pollution produced by conventional construction methods involves carbon emission and on-site dust. Numerous scholars have compared the lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emission of the prefabricated building with that of conventional building and revealed that prefabricated construction methods reduced GHG emissions [5,40,41]. Some studies even integrated digital technologies to achieve real-time monitoring of carbon and GHG emissions.…”

“…Prefabrication refers to a process of transporting off-site manufactured components to the construction site and then installing them to the buildings [4]. With the application of prefabrication, the construction waste can be reduced by 50% [5], resource reduction by 35.82%, health damage reduction by 6.61%, and ecosystem damage reduction by 3.47% [6]. Therefore, prefabrication application has been widely identified as a prospective way that contributes to the sustainable development of the construction industry [7].…”

BIM-enabled Sustainability Assessment of Design for Manufacture and Assembly

“…This requires the integration of sustainability factors and knowledge in different building phases (such as manufacturing, assembly, and operation and maintenance) [3,4]. However, unlike conventional construction methods, offsite constructuion requires the evaluation of sustainability in the design stage [5,6]. The United Kingdom (UK), Singapore, and Hong Kong governments have identified Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) as the way to accelerate the efficiency and sustainability of the construction industry [4,7,8].…”

Exploring a body of knowledge for promoting the sustainable transition to prefabricated construction

“…It has been demonstrated that prefabricated construction an alleviate the negative effects (e.g. massive waste from construction and demolition) on the environment from construction activities (Cao et al , 2015; Hu and Chong, 2019), increase production efficiency, shorten the construction duration (Richard, 2005), decrease the labor demand and reduce maintenance expenses (Hong et al , 2018). These advantages provide an explanation for the implementation of prefabricated construction, which has been embraced globally.…”