Dynamics in the Adoption of Offsite Construction in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Abstract

Construction work involves three major activities namely; material selection, fabrication of components and elements and lastly erection or assembling. The methods of fabrication are either onsite or offsite with the offsite construction established in literature as the most efficient means of erecting high-density housing units within short periods. The slow rate of its adoption and innovation in Nigeria’s construction industry is however a matter of concern. This prompted a study on the dynamics involved in adopting offsite construction processes in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja with a view to stimulate improved adoption in housing projects. The specific objectives are to identify mechanisms for increasing innovations in construction, to evaluate the level of use of offsite construction processes across housing supply chains and to examine the significance level of forces that interplay in the adoption of offsite construction processes across the housing supply chain. A survey design approach was adopted to achieve this objective while data collected from structured questionnaires using a 5 point Likert scale was analysed with mean item score and ranking. 50 questionnaires were administered and 47 supply chain participants responded from 20 housing projects within the F.C.T. Abuja. The questionnaire comprised of characteristics of supply chain participants, levels in adopting offsite processes in selected building components and elements and relative importance of forces that interplay in adopting offsite construction. Results revealed that the raw material and labour availability with (MIS =4.00) were the most significant influences on housing supply chains. It was concluded that managing raw materials and labour supply more effectively will significantly influence the adoption of offsite construction in housing projects and has direct effects on the performance of the construction industry. The study suggests that stakeholders in construction view themselves as members of a supply chains and collaborate more effectively to ensure better project outcome.