ods of construction( Hashemi 2015). This is a great opportunity for MMC to be successfully applied in Iran. It should be noted that after about a century of experiencing prefabricated methods of construction, the UK is still suffering from several social, environmental, and economic problems some of which have been the outcomes of mistakes made during the past century( Hashemi 2013). Variety in products, flexibility in application and continuous development can help to avoid repeating the UK’ s mistakes. New approaches, such as mass customisation, could be an appropriate strategy which should be considered by the Iranian construction industry to address flexibility issues. Japanese experience in mass customised housing( Hashemi and Hadjri 2013) is a great example which could be followed by both the Iranian and UK construction industries.
Moreover, continuous demand is the key factor for successful application of MMC. Foreign systems were not sufficiently adopted by the UK construction industry until late 1950s when housing programmes grew considerably and investors became confident about local authorities and the government’ s commitment to“ system building”. This was when foreign and UK building systems flooded into the housing market( Finnimore 1989). The Iranian government has announced some plans to support investors in MMC; however, these plans are neither sufficient nor effective in practice. Meanwhile, not only are high tariffs for imported materials normal but their rate is volatile, giving importers little certainty about the costs. Recent sanctions / embargoes and uncertainties about the currency exchange rates also contribute to the above worries. In this respect, the government should provide special facilities for innovative methods of construction to make them more feasible in Iran. Currently, considering the abovementioned risks, it seems more rational to adapt transferred MMC by minimising the use of imported materials, with a corresponding decrease in the finished prices.
Furthermore, the UK government is encouraging and promoting MMC through different activities such as research grants, best practice strategies, and national and international exhibitions and competitions. The government is also applying MMC in social housing and other governmental projects. The Iranian government can also promote MMC by considering similar policies and strategies. The number of relevant seminars held in the UK is far greater than in Iran. There are also several professional organisations such as Building Research Establishment( BRE) and Buildoffsite that are constantly working on various construction technologies and MMC, whereas in Iran, there are no professional organisations to consider MMC in detail. It is the government’ s responsibility to establish professional organisations to carry out more research, seminars and courses on relevant subjects. National exhibitions and competition would also help to promote MMC in Iran.
Moreover, fundamental changes in the role of designers and manufacturers are essential in order to have a successful application of MMC( Pasquire and Connoly 2003). The main question is as to how ready designers, builders, and manufacturers are to change their traditional roles and attitudes toward new methods of construction. Considering MMC is a relatively new subject in Iran, more effort may be required to change the traditional role and behaviour of the clients, designers, engineers, manufacturers, and developers in the construction industry. Moreover, these members of the construction industry have very limited knowledge about MMC( Hashemi 2015) which may increase the associated risks of MMC.
Identifying early adopters is also a key factor in successful application of an innovation. Early adopters are the most influential group in any system since potential adopters look to them for advice and information( Rogers 1995). Likely, early adopters and stakeholders of MMC are not readily apparent in Iran. There are two key questions which should be answered:
• Who are the potential investors in MMC?
Feasibility of Application of Modern Methods of Construction in Iran 27