INGENIEUR
Case Study
Prefinished Prefabricated
Volumetric Construction for
Project Clement Canopy in
Singapore
By Wong Seng, Maey Leow Geok Mui, Heng Kim Huat
TW-ASIA Consultants Pte Ltd, Singapore
T
he Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric
Construction (PPVC) was an initiative by the
Building Construction Authority of Singapore
to promote productivity in the construction
industry through off-site manufacturing. Amongst
its series of elaborate initiatives, its main goal was
to move as much cast in-situ works as possible
to a controlled factory environment for all the
finishing works and minimise on site construction
works.
Working in tandem with the authorities, TW-
Asia Consultants Pte Ltd was in the forefront of
PPVC development and pioneered the advanced
research of reinforced concrete (RC) composite
shear wall structural system and submitted a
patent for the PPVC technology to enter the PPVC
market. It was through research, testing and
continual development that a unique structural
system was devised as one of the technical
solutions for PPVC methodology.
Central to the idea was to develop a six-sided
PPVC module that would be manufactured in the
factory and delivered to site for assembly.
Structural System
While the PPVC technology was new to
the construction industry at the time of
implementation, some of the core engineering
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JUNE 2013 2019
principles of structural design, foundation design
and superstructure engineering design (lateral
stability, ductility, progressive collapse, etc.)
and compliance with the structural code, which
had been adopted in conventional construction,
remained. There are two key parts forming the
structural system: Foundation and the Super-
structure. The super structure comprises mainly
two numbers of 40-storey high Tower Blocks and
Multi-storey Carparks. The foundation system
for the 40-storey tower blocks comprises bored
piles whilst foundation system for the podium
multi-storey carpark comprises jack-in spun piles.
As part of the Singapore authorities’ efforts to
encourage off-site construction such as the PPVC
construction methodology, the Government Land
Sales (GLS) programme in Singapore mandates
that the 65% of the super structure’s floor area be
built with off-site volumetric construction or PPVC.
In line with the GLS programme, under
the Building Control Authority’s (BCA) detailed
guidelines and buildable scoring system for
developers and consultants to comply with, the
superstructure system for the 40-storey tower
blocks comprises reinforced concrete using the
PPVC system with more than 65% coverage of
superstructure floor area; whilst the remaining
superstructure area comprises precast RC floor
with minimum cast in-situ lift core and storey
shelter.