Prefabrication: A Research Paper on Fabrication

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PREFABRICATION
A Research Paper on Fabrication By
Student’s Name
Name of the Professor
Institutional Affiliation
City/State
Year/Month/Day

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INTRODUCTION
In the UK following 1945, there was drive organized for mass provision of social housing
sponsored by government and many schemes such as industrial building method lead to
experimentation and investment in techniques of the offsite building like large panel concrete
building. The application of offsite methods of fabrication has received more consideration in
modern days; and the trend started with the sector of the hotel where repeatability and quality of
units lend to volumetric constructions and this technique is now being practical to apartments,
houses and sheltered accommodations.
There are 3 methods of off-site construction of buildings being applied currently.
Volumetric systems; 3D units are made in the factory with high degree services, interior finishes
and fit-out exact conditions of the factory before transportation to the site. This strategy is suited
to areas that are extremely serviced such as bathrooms and kitchens which have been added
value and cause delays and disruption on-site but maybe least suitable for other rooms with the
low internal fit-out. The benefits include quality improvement, defects reduction, on-site
snagging, increase construction speed, better conditions for working predictability increase, and
efficiency in the process of production. Its limitation is that every unit is transported individually
and size maximization of the unit is determined by practical limitation related with road transport
(Bezgin, 2013).
Penalized systems; flat-panel components are produced in the factory and joined together on the
site to produces structures of 3D. Doors, windows and services, finishes of internal walls and
outside cladding can be fitted in the factory. They are more flexible and accommodate detail

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designs and unit plan and can be loaded flat so that most of the structures are transported in only
one journey to reduce the impacts of transportation.
Hybrid systems; Volumetric systems are applied for highly serviced areas such as bathroom and
kitchen and other parts of building use panels and other construction means. This enables the
removal of serviced areas from the critical project path and brings together the importance of
different penalized and volumetric systems. It addressed the issues of customers’ choice and
flexibility (Mikušková, 2014).
METHODOLOGY
An investigation of three case studies was conducted, the first case study used the prefabricated
roof panes, the second and the third case study reviewed the construction of houses that have
been designed at BRES innovation village. Examples of high rise modular construction are
present as far back as the 1960s. Habitat 67 in Montreal and packaging tower in Tokyo are
examples of concrete modular structures that were known architectural at that period but
experienced praises for their innovation. Each module was self-contained and smaller than
modern living needs. Buildings were conceived for affordable houses and were on-site and
offsite fabricated up to many stories. Data available in every case study varies based on the
access to the participant, projection timelines and available records (Gong, 2019)
CASE STUDIES
Paragon –Bretford
Thames Valley University and Barkeley First partnered through the agreement of nomination to
develop eight hundred and thirty-nine-bed dormitory for the students schooling at the university.
The project also comprised 221 units’ workers and homes for shared ownership of academic

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facilities at the school. At that time, the project war he tallest modular fabricated building in the
world and was awarded major house project of the year. From the start of onsite construction, the
whole development took twenty-two months to finish and was 12 months less than would have
been needed for the traditional building (Shahzad, 2015). The benefit of an early generation of
revenue and occupation produced financial importance to the university and developer. The
modular structure is constructed over a concrete podium which gives parking below grade and
slips formed comprised elements like elevator shafts and stairs (Yang, 2019). All the spaces for
accommodation were modular fully with rooms finished and completed with doors, window,
finishes and carpeting were trade needed only on-site to finish the construction (Teng, 2018).
The building from 11 to 17 stories was built using the corner post of modular load-bearing. The
modules were produced with corridors integrated where half of the corridor was comprised in
every module. The corner column was in the board of modular ends and floor projection into the
corridor was attained but stiff beam edge of the modules (Generalova, 2016). In the
arrangement of the corridor, horizontal loads are moved through in-plane bracing and are joined
to the core in the corridor. The sheer force limited the distance between the core and the outer
module that could be shifted through the corridor or by travel length for the safety of life. The
project phase comprised 827 modules in 600 rooms of students, 114 studios, 63-two- bedroomed
and 44-one bedroomed (Jaillon, 2010).
The waste management during the construction included dumping illegally, landfilling wastes in
public, recycle and reuse of wastes. The balconies were connected at the terminal posts of the
loads which can be moved to the ground surface directly (Shahtaheri, 2017). The integrated
balconies inside the module can be conveyed to the wall end of balcony within the configuration
module. Benefits of cost and time of modular structure remove the option of using modular

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technology and erode with complicated architecture (Tam, 2010). The prefabricated member
steel can exist in many sizes and sections and it is the work of engineer to determine the parts
and sizes of steel member of ordinary sizes from the steel manufacturer to encompass all the
architectural designs. The steel construction process is simple and prefabricated steel can be
supplied to the site of construction by the manufacturer before being amassed by use of bolts and
welding methods. Many streel structure can be constructed normally using concrete, glass and
panels (Orlowski, 2019).
Figure 1: Effects of prefabrication on paragon –Bretford construction

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Figure 2: Paragon –Bretford
Hanson Eco house
This house is detached, 117 square meters house of two stories constructed to showcase the
latest development in the masonry building and smart technology. It was the first house to attain
code level 4 under the sustainable home codes where offsite prefabrication construction played
an important role. The house makes extensive use of prefabricated walls, ground floor system
made of composite and staircase made of precast concrete (Österreicher, 2018). Levels of
high thermal have been achieved with the prefabricated elements which enable the house to store
heat during warm times and release it during cooler periods. Thermal mass saves energy in the
masonry house and can help in reducing the emission of carbon dioxide over the building's life
(Zhu, 2018).
The structural walls of this building have been made using quick build walking systems. The
system of external walling comprises of pre-insulated, panels of cavity walls and pre finish brick.