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Offsite construction (OSC) is a modern method of construction (MMC) that involves manufacturing and assembly of buildings. Industry 4.0-driven technological advancements have accelerated OSC uptake causing many skilled construction workers requiring re-skilling or up-skilling. Quantity surveyors currently play an important role throughout a construction project life cycle, and hence, their knowledge on OSC projects is vital for the continuity of quantity surveying (QS) profession. The purpose of this paper is to critically review QS education in an OSC perspective and to propose strategies for up-skilling.

This research includes a detailed literature review of QS and OSC to evaluate how OSC affects the QS profession. Publicly available information on the university websites on accredited QS and construction management degrees was reviewed to identify OSC and MMC references, specifically the content listing and learning outcomes.

Out of the 315 degrees offered by 157 universities, only 69 degrees in 32 universities refer to OSC or MMC. OSC concept is explicitly referred in subjects related to construction technology, production management, lean construction, digital construction and MMC. As such, the research suggests including lean production principles, OSC techniques and design philosophies such as design for manufacture and assembly be added to the QS curricula.

This research is a comprehensive desktop study that does not involve empirical data-based evaluation. Research findings inform strategies to improve QS education and professional competencies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind that evaluates accredited QS degrees and learning requirements in an OSC perspective.

The United Kingdom (UK) construction sector is transforming with increasing confidence in offsite construction (OSC) solutions following its accrued benefits. To sustain this momentum, exploring viable strategies to promote successful OSC implementation is a top priority. This paper aims to identify and establish interrelationships and logical dependencies of critical success factors (CSFs) for implementing OSC on building projects in the UK.

This study utilised a qualitative research approach. Following a critical review of extant literature, brainstorming and focus group sessions were carried out with OSC experts in the UK construction industry to identify and contextualise CSFs for OSC implementation. Interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and matrix impact cross-reference multiplication applied to a classification (MICMAC) were used to analyse and model the interrelationships between the contextualised CSFs.

The study identified eighteen CSFs for implementing OSC on projects in the UK positioned on seven hierarchical levels and clustered into dependent, linkage and independent factors. The top five CSFs established were client commitment, top management support, adequate OSC knowledge and experience, flexible leadership and flexible business models. These were located at the base of the ISM model, possessing the highest driving powers in facilitating the successful implementation of OSC on projects.

This study established a hierarchical interrelationship and the importance of the CSFs influencing the successful implementation of OSC. This would assist OSC clients and project teams in identifying and prioritising particular areas for strategic actions, which offer advantages in pursuing successful OSC project outcomes in the UK. Previous research on OSC implementation in the UK had not examined CSFs' interrelationships.

This paper aims to identify modern construction techniques for affordable housing, such as prefabrication and interlocking systems, that can save time and cost while also providing long-term sustainable benefits that are desperately needed in today's construction industry.

The need for housing is growing worldwide, but traditional construction cannot cater to the demand due to insufficient time. There should be some paradigm shift in the construction industry to supply housing to society. This paper presented a state-of-the-art review of modern construction techniques practiced worldwide and their advantages in affordable housing construction by conducting a systematic literature review and applying the backward snowball technique. The paper reviews modern prefabrication techniques and interlocking systems such as modular construction, formwork systems, light gauge steel/cold form steel construction and sandwich panel construction, which have been globally well practiced. It was understood from the overview that modular construction, including modular steel construction and precast concrete construction, could reduce time and costs efficiently. Further enhancement in the quality was also noticed. Besides, it was observed that light gauge steel construction is a modern phase of steel that eases construction execution efficiently. Modern formwork systems such as Mivan (Aluminium Formwork) have been reported for their minimum construction time, which leads to faster construction than traditional formwork. However, the cost is subjected to the repetitions of the formwork. An interlocking system is an innovative approach to construction that uses bricks made of sustainable materials such as earth that conserve time and cost.

The study finds that the prefabrication techniques and interlocking system have a lot of unique attributes that can enable the modern construction sector to flourish. The study summarizes modern construction techniques that can save time and cost, enhancing the sustainability of construction practices, which is the need of the Indian construction industry in particular.

This study is limited to identifying specific modern construction techniques for time and cost savings, lean concepts and sustainability which are being practiced worldwide.

Modern formwork systems such as Mivan (Aluminium Formwork) have been reported for their minimum construction time which leads to faster construction than traditional formwork.

The need for housing is growing rapidly all over the world, but traditional construction cannot cater to the need due to insufficient time. There should be some paradigm shift in the construction industry to supply housing to society.

This study is unique in identifying specific modern construction techniques for time and cost savings, lean concepts and sustainability which are being practiced worldwide.

Globally, prefabrication in housebuilding has evolved as an innovative approach to attain sustainability and affordability. However, the SC, including non-producers and producers, of prefabricated housebuilding projects is still not perceptually aligned, hindering innovation diffusion. This paper investigates the contemporary industry perspective on PHB for conceptualisation, market share and growth, innovation diffusion and the producer's role in the context of New Zealand.

An exploratory qualitative research design was chosen to learn the perceptual stance of the industry. A semi-structured survey was conducted, followed by interviews with selected supply chain participants, who were producers and non-producers and had relevant experience in the PHB industry.

This study reports the common terminologies used by supply chain members, with justification and explanation. Further, the perceived market share and growth of the PHB industry are obtained and compared with subsequent studies to determine the capability and capacity. The perception of the diffusion of PHB by type is reported to portray the overall trend of the industry. In the last, the role of producers as the suppliers of PHB projects is investigated to establish the stakeholder positional criticality.

This study can help researchers and practitioners gain insight into the PHB industry from a multi-dimensional perspective. This study is a potential first step to formalise the policy, programme, strategies and action plan for the uptake of the PHB in the New Zealand.

PHB diffusion in the supply chain perspective, considering multi-dimensional aspects, has not been considered in previous studies as government agencies produce most of the literature. This academic research establishes the theoretical linkage towards PHB diffusion and reports the current status.

Building defects are becoming recurrent phenomena in most high-rise buildings. However, little research exists on the analysis of defects in high-rise buildings based on data from real-life projects. This study aims to develop dashboards and models for revealing the most common locations of defects, understanding associations among defects and predicting the rectification periods.

In total, 15,484 defect reports comprising qualitative and quantitative data were obtained from a company that provides consulting services for the construction industry in Victoria, Australia. Data mining methods were applied using a wide range of Python libraries including NumPy, Pandas, Natural Language Toolkit, SpaCy and Regular Expression, alongside association rule mining (ARM) and simulations.

Findings reveal that defects in multi-storey buildings often occur on lower levels, rather than on higher levels. Joinery defects were found to be the most recurrent problem on ground floors. The ARM outcomes show that the occurrence of one type of defect can be taken as an indication for the existence of other types of defects. For instance, in laundry, the chance of occurrence of plumbing and joinery defects, where paint defects are observed, is 88%. The stochastic model built for door defects showed that there is a 60% chance that defects on doors can be rectified within 60 days.

The dashboards provide original insight and novel ideas regarding the frequency of defects in various positions in multi-storey buildings. The stochastic models can provide a reliable point of reference for property managers, occupants and sub-contractors for taking measures to avoid reoccurring defects; so too, findings provide estimations of possible rectification periods for various types of defects.

The development of prefabrication into full-scale offsite manufacturing processes in the construction industry is paradigm-shifting. Moreover, Building Information Modelling (BIM) is becoming the primary mode of communication and integration in construction projects to facilitate the flow of information. Although research has been performed on BIM and Offsite Construction (OSC), integrating these two concepts remains ambiguous and complex and lacks documentation and structure, especially in New Zealand. Therefore, this paper develops a robust framework for OSC and BIM integration. The study focusses on identifying integration challenges and proposes strategies for overcoming these challenges.

This study applied scientometric analysis, a systematic literature review (SLR) and semi-structured expert interviews to investigate OSC and BIM integration challenges. Multiple themes were investigated and triangulation conducted in this research supports the creation of applicable knowledge in this field.

Multiple gaps, research trends and the pioneer countries in the paper's scope have been identified through scientometric analysis. Then, a classified cluster of challenges for OSC and BIM implementation and integration strategies of OSC and BIM were demonstrated from the findings. The interviews provided comprehensive and complementary data sets and analyses. The findings from the Systematic Literature Review and interview structured the integration framework.

The contribution of this paper to existing knowledge is a developed framework that serves as a guideline for the OSC stakeholders. This framework can assess OSC's alignment with BIM and consolidate strategies for incorporating OSC into a BIM-based project delivery process. The framework consists of 23 strategies categorised into 8 clusters: a policy document, training and professional development, documentation, technology management, governmental development, contract development, accurate definition and detailing and communication. The proposed strategies will streamline integration by reducing potential challenges, thus enhancing project productivity.

Modular integrated construction (MiC) is a modern construction method innovating and reinventing the traditional site-based construction method. As it integrates advanced manufacturing principles and requires offsite production of volumetric building components, several factors and conditions must converge to make the MiC method suitable and efficient for building projects in each context. This paper aims to present a knowledge-based decision support system (KB-DSS) for assessing a project’s suitability for the MiC method.

The KB-DSS uses 21 significant suitability decision-making factors identified through literature review, consultation of experts and questionnaire surveys. It has a knowledge base, a DSS and a user interface. The knowledge base comprises IF-THEN production rules to compute the MiC suitability score with the efficient use of the powerful reasoning and explanation capabilities of DSS.

The tool receives the inputs of a decision-maker, computes the MiC suitability score for a given project and generates recommendations based on the score. Three real-world projects in Hong Kong are used to demonstrate the applicability of the tool for solving the MiC suitability assessment problem.

This study established the complex and competing significant conditions and factors determining the suitability of the MiC method for construction projects. It developed a unique tool combining the capabilities of expert systems and decision support system to address the complex problem of assessing the suitability of the MiC method for construction projects in a high-density metropolis.

The growing demand for housing and infrastructure, as well as the requirement for affordable housing, has been a significant factor, necessitating investigation for sustainable approaches and implementation of alternative construction innovations. Hence, this study aims to identify and assess the drivers for implementing modular construction systems (MCS) in developing countries.

The study adopts a quantitative research approach to seek respondents’ opinions on the factors that can drive the implementation of MCS in developing countries. Accordingly, a structured questionnaire was used as an instrument of data collection based on five Likert scales. The data was analysed using the mean score, one sample t-test, Kruskal–Wallis, factor analysis (FA) and Pearson correlation analysis.

Results show that 15 of the 16 major identified drivers were statistically significant towards implementing MCS, which indicates that the drivers are crucial for implementing MCS in developing countries. However, the Kruskal–Wallis test reveals that the respondents have varying opinions on the identified drivers. FA categorised the drivers into four categories, namely, “management and sustainability”, “key performance”, “know-how and logistics” and “regulations and policies”. A strong relationship among the four categories of drivers was established using Pearson correlation, which indicated that all the drivers’ categories are essential for implementing MCS in developing countries.

This study identified and assessed the drivers towards implementing MCS in developing countries. The study concludes that the identified drivers are essential for implementing MCS in developing countries. Also, the study considers the government the most placed player in driving the implementation of MCS in developing countries.

The purpose of this study is designed to achieve the learning process in producing studies involving economic issues and scenarios in business management in Malaysia. In addition, this study will provide exposure to the integration of managerial skills by using both microeconomics and macroeconomics concepts and theories to aid decision-making in a business environment.

The research method comprised qualitative methodology of literature review, case study and quantitative methodology of multiple linear regression (MLR). In this case, seven microeconomics and macroeconomics factors which are believed to significantly affect house price index (HPI) are taken into consideration which includes gross domestic product, consumer price index (CPI), government tax and subsidy on housing, overnight policy rate, unemployment rate (UNEMP), the median income (INC) and cost of production index.

This research has resulted in three significant factors affecting HPI from MLR, which include CPI, UNEMP and INC where the increase of these factors will cause a high increment of HPI. The other four factors are not significant.

Malaysia has been facing the stagnancy in house market these recent years due to issues such as massive oversupply, impacting Malaysia’s economy specifically focusing on domestic direct investment. To avoid oversupply issues, the vitality of future house demand and pricing forecast should be comprehended by involved bodies for more effective planning for the house development industry. To make a better and bigger impact, this research is intended to analyse the microeconomic and macroeconomic factors affecting the HPI to better understand the significance of each of these factors to the changes of HPI to resolve these economic issues.

This study aimed to identify and assess the barriers to implementing modular construction systems (MCS) in developing country's architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, targeting built environment professionals from Nigeria and South Africa.

The study adopted a quantitative research method, using a structured questionnaire to seek the opinions of the professionals on the identified categories of barriers.

Results indicated that all identified categories of barriers were statistically significant using a one-sample t-test at p = 0.05 significance level which indicates they are critical towards the implementation of MCS in developing countries. Assessment of the opinion of the professionals using the Kruskal–Wallis scale showed that they hold similar views on the barriers to the adoption of MCS. Pearson correlation shows a high correlation coefficient amongst the barrier categories and an acceptable level of significance (p = 0.05).

This study is limited to two significant African countries (Nigeria and South Africa) selected based on the gross domestic product (GDP). Further studies can consider developing countries outside Africa and investigate broader respondents.

The study provides implications on the barriers affecting MCS in developing countries for the academia, industry and government to have an insight into the barriers and make informed decisions and policies.

The research satisfies the need to study the barriers affecting the MCS in developing countries that can mitigate housing deficits. This innovative construction method has been adopted and implemented in developed countries, and the result has been positive.