Adoption of Prefabrication for Construction Projects in Tamale.
Abstract
The primary success parameters of every project are time, cost and quality. The need to control large quantities of waste is also an issue of great concern in the construction industry. The adoption of new technological advancement in the construction sector is seen as the way forward to achieving project success. Prefabrication has been adopted for construction project by many countries across the world. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors militating against the adoption of prefabrication for construction projects in Tamale. This was achieved by meeting the following objectives: To investigate the benefits in adopting prefabrication; To investigate the difficulties in the adoption of prefabrication; To investigate the measures in adopting prefabrication; and To examine the extent of usage of prefabrication. The research made use of literature review of existing work. One hundred and twenty (120) questionnaires were administered to respondents and desk study of selected stakeholders in the construction industry. The statistical tools used in the analysis comprised descriptive statistics and mean score ranking. Findings of the study indicated that project cost, quality, time are among some of the key benefits. Some of the hindrances identified were lack of direct financial grants, lack of practical technical training, inadequate suppliers of prefabrication, no policy to promote prefabrication and finally, the factors identified to promote future development of prefabrication were provision of direct financial grant, advancement of prefabrication skills in workers, incentive schemes to inspire the private sector and sustainability as a first priority. The results also indicated that, inspite of the difficulties in the adoption of prefabrication, stakeholders in the Ghanaian construction industry believe in the need to explore its use. The adoption of prefabrication will contribute to reducing the huge housing deficit and facilitate the industrilisation of the construction industry. Prefabrication has the capacity to offer alternative choice of solutions and to further improve quality and value for money for construction projects. The findings will contribute to the adoption of prefabrication for construction projects and has provided a broad view of the essence for the use of prefabrication in construction.
Description
A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Building Technology, College of Art and Built Environment in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science,
Keywords
industrialisation, success, project, modularization, prefabrication