Open AccessConstruction stakeholders’ perceived benefits and barriers for environment-friendly modular construction in a hospitality centric environment
Author(s) -
Shreyansh Paliwal,
Jin Ouk Choi,
James Bristow,
Hyun Kyung Chatfield,
Seungtaek Lee
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of industrialized construction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2563-5034
DOI - 10.29173/ijic252
Subject(s) - modular design , schedule , sustainability , business , hospitality , documentation , process management , quality (philosophy) , engineering management , operations management , marketing , engineering , tourism , computer science , ecology , philosophy , epistemology , political science , law , biology , programming language , operating system
Modular construction techniques can not only significantly contribute to improved project cost, schedule, and quality performance, but also sustainability by reducing site disruption and waste generated, creating better relocatability and reusability. However, there are still difficulties in developing and implementing modularization in a hospitality centric environment. Thus, the primary goal of this research is to identify the opportunities and challenges of implementing sustainable modular construction techniques in a hospitality-centric environment. In this study, the approach includes the formulation of a survey, which was distributed to 600 industry professionals in Las Vegas and completed by 63 industry professionals, followed by three personal interviews. The results showed that: 1) 85% percent of survey participants expected an improvement in schedule, and 65% of that elected to use a form of modularization actually experienced an improved schedule; 2) 62% of the participants claimed that they would keep using modular methods in the next 12 months, whereas 44% of the participants claimed they would increase their use of modularization in the next five years; 3) two of the top five expected benefits achieved included less site disruption (noise/traffic and dust) and reduced waste, which contribute towards sustainable construction; 4) transportation/logistics was selected by industry professionals as a key barrier in the implementation of modular construction; 5) to implement more sustainable construction, practitioners require additional research to improve and overcome the key barrier of transportation/logistics; 6) if construction professionals gain more modular project experience, their perceived benefits and barriers could increase and decrease, respectively. The results from this research provide valuable insights for implementing sustainable modular methods in hospitality-centric environments.