Change can be for the better or the worse. When it comes to offsite construction, we’re beginning to see positive change on the innovation side of things. The US offsite industry is waking up to the fact that the rest of the world is taking the lead in construction techniques and that we have much to learn.
The articles in this issue that focus on the Irish, British and Swedish offsite industries just scratch the surface. But they do offer a glimpse into the ways other countries are meeting their housing demand, and what we can learn from them.
In Europe, a term often used to describe offsite construction is Modern Methods of Construction (MMC). It’s an approach in which standardized building parts are mass-produced, then assembled on-site in various ways.
While MMC sounds a lot like US offsite construction, in reality, it’s a more holistic way of thinking about a building. When designing a project, MMC practitioners will consider a wide variety of building systems— kitchen and bath pods, full volumetric modules, cross-laminated timber and panelized systems. Prefabricated façades, bathroom pods and even pop-up factories showed up in Europe before being accepted in the US.
These approaches were unheard of in the US just 15 years ago, but today many domestic modular and offsite factories are using the MMC approach for large projects, where repetitively produced modules and wall assemblies are combined. In doing so, they are more willing to source products from outside the US. (Some are sourcing entire buildings. For instance, prefabricated hotels built in Poland and shipped to the US have become very popular in recent years.)
Innovation has been going on in Asia as well. The Asian offsite construction industry has been producing standardized housing and commercial buildings for many decades. Some of their factories are working 24/7 to keep up with the demand for residential and commercial structures. Chinese companies use modules to complete tall buildings in a matter of days.
Digital technologies from Europe have also become popular, and are being incorporated into several new US factories. In fact, US offsite factories are just now starting to implement software, automation, robotics, BIM and other technologies that have long been commonplace overseas.
The world of offsite construction is exploding and the US offsite industry is looking to catch up to what other countries have already been doing for a long time. Join us as we take a closer look at what is happening in offsite around the world.
