Industrialized Housing in China: A Coin With Two Sides

Abstract

China today is experiencing a time when housing is needed more than ever and one approach satisfying this need is by industrialization -a streamlined process aimed at generating profits and promoting energy efficiency in the housing sectors. Although large housing programs have been completed in China, few housing projects have been built in an industrialized manner. one contributing factor is that industrialization is not omnipotent and, just as a coin has two sides, not all the outcomes of industrialization are beneficial. In this paper, a preliminary assessment is made of these two sides -the benefits and hindrances of industrialized housing in China -by literature review and survey. Case studies are used to verify the questionnaire survey results and from which the advantages and disadvantages involved are compared. The findings indicate the need for formulating policies to encourage industrialized housing in China and for well-planned r&D themes to be implemented simultaneously with industry practices in the near future.

Current State of Off-Site Manufacturing in Australian and Chinese Residential Construction

“…Another recent study by Zhang and Skitmore [19] focuses specially on adoption of OSM in the residential housing sector. The research presents lists of the benefits and hindrances of OSM implementation in China.…”

A comparative study of environmental performance between prefabricated and traditional residential buildings in China

“…This construction method is distinct from the traditional construction process, in which raw or preliminary processed materials, such as iron, timber and concrete, are transported to the construction site directly and cast in situ. A variety of interchangeable terms are used to refer to housing that uses prefabrication technology, such as "prefabrication, preassembly, modularization and off-site fabrication" (Song et al, 2005) and "modular housing" (Kim, 2008) in the US; "off-site production" in European countries (Nadim and Goulding, 2011); "industrialized building" in Malaysia (Kamar and Hamid, 2011); "prefabrication" in Hong Kong (Jaillon and Poon, 2009) and Singapore (Park et al, 2011); and "industrialized housing" (Zhang and Skitmore, 2012) and "off-site construction" (Mao et al, 2013) in mainland China. In this study, the authors employed the term "prefabricated residential building" (PRB) to refer to residential buildings using prefabrication technology and the term "traditional residential building" (TRB) to refer to residential buildings using cast-in-situ technology.…”

“…The results indicated that prefabricated construction decreased material use and energy consumption by 20%, reduced emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) and nitrogen oxides (NO X ) by 20% and reduced emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) and particles with diameters of 10 mm or less (PM 10 ) by 16%. Zhang and Skitmore (2012) performed a preliminary assessment on the benefits of and barriers to PRB applications in China using literature review and surveys. Their findings indicated that 87% less timber shuttering and 70% less water were used and that construction waste generated by the building construction process was reduced by 30%.…”

The Review of Rework Causes and Costs in Housing Construction Supply Chain

“… The use of prefabricated products to reduce rework generation on site, which consequently contributes to cost savings and higher quality (Love, et al, 2004;Zhang, et al, 2012). Researchers have concluded that there is a gap between theory and practical implementation of the suggested practices for rework minimisation by construction firms.…”