Title: Moving towards managing offsite construction techniques in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: a review

Authors: Yasir Almutairi; Mohammed Arif; Malik M.A. Khalfan

Addresses: School of Built Environment, University of Salford, Maxwell Building, The Crescent, Greater Manchester, M5 4WT, UK ' Centre for Built Environment Sustainability and Transformation (BEST), School of Built Environment, University of Salford, Maxwell Building, The Crescent, Greater Manchester, M5 4WT, UK ' Department of Civil Infrastructure and Environmental Engineering, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Abstract: The offsite construction techniques (OCTs) have been considered in the recent construction research as a way of improving the somewhat wasteful and inefficient practices associated with the onsite construction industry. It would also result into improvements in resource efficiency at all stages of the project development process, namely design, manufacture and construction, and enhancement of the sustainability credentials within the construction sector. Researchers have argued that an offsite construction method is likely to assist a company to achieve resource efficiency, improve the quality of its product and increase levels of profit. Researchers have also attributed the use OCT as a construction industry response to an increase in the wages of site labour related to site productivity. This paper will present the in-depth literature review conducted as part of the research suggesting the use and management of OCT for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: offsite construction techniques; OCTs; construction industry; Saudi Arabia; literature review; construction management; resource efficiency; product quality; profit levels; wages; site productivity.

DOI: 10.1504/MEJM.2016.078533

Middle East Journal of Management, 2016 Vol.3 No.2, pp.164 - 178

Received: 23 Mar 2016
Accepted: 31 Mar 2016
Published online: 22 Aug 2016 *

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