The Governors of the University of Alberta

Published purpose

In traditional construction, the supply of (construction) materials and skilled labor flows towards an open geographical location (i.e., the construction site), making the adoption of advanced technologies and production methods difficult. However, as innovative building materials emerge, along with technological advances in logistics and information processing, the construction industry became well-positioned to leverage the benefits of the manufacturing model by relocating the majority of construction activities from the site to an indoor manufacturing environment. While numerous studies highlighted the economic benefits of indoor manufacturing for the construction industry, the human and societal dimension associated with this novel delivery paradigm has not yet received sufficient attention. Accordingly, this Project aims to fill this gap by building a framework that would allow researchers and policymakers to evaluate whether the human dimension will act as a positive feedback loop for the adoption of the off-site paradigm in the construction industry.