• Who would be the pioneers to adopt MMC changes and their innovative approach to design , manufacturing , and management in the construction industry ?
More research needs to be undertaken among different stakeholders including architects , consultants , engineers , developers , contractors , manufacturers , society , and the government to answer these fundamental questions .
A major point which makes the Iranian and UK construction industries different is that the UK construction industry works as an “ Open ” or “ Flexible ” system , meaning that many products from different manufacturers are compatible with each other . UK companies and manufacturers cooperate with each other and refer to or recommend other companies ’ products that are compatible with theirs . Many products can be easily applied in different projects without concerns about their compatibility . Manufacturers also use approved contractors who work under their license to guarantee the quality of finished products . Published literature and technical help lines also assist architects and engineers to choose the right products and materials . Many seminars are also organised by manufacturers to introduce and promote their products in the market .
The situation is rather different in Iran since manufacturing systems are usually “ Closed ”, and different products are generally not exchangeable / compatible . Manufacturers cooperate very rarely and , for various reasons , are not willing to publish their technical information . Moreover , a very few companies assist architects and engineers during the design processes . Therefore , designers are responsible for almost all detailed design without much assistance from the manufacturers , which considerably increases the risks of errors and costly modifications particularly when it comes to offsite methods of construction . This situation must change in order to decrease the risks associated with MMC . Considering the current conditions , three options with regards to transferring MMC to Iran appear viable :
• To transfer a “ Closed ” system where every single component is manufactured in the system itself .
• To modify / adapt transferred MMC .
• To start with less complex methods and products .
In the first scenario , transferred MMC may become far too expensive compared with prevailing methods of construction in Iran . In addition , such systems may not be flexible enough for future developments , which may increase the risk of failure in long term . The second option means applying regional / local materials and modifying the details and components to produce MMC which are suitable for the Iranian conditions . This will considerably increase the chance of success for MMC although it needs considerable initial investments as well as accurate planning and execution which may be costly and time consuming . The third option may be the most successful of all suggested scenarios as the methods and products are simple and do not require highly skilled labourers or heavy machinery and are easily combined with prevailing methods of construction . Examples are some internal and external walling , cladding and roofing systems such as compound walls and sandwich insulated panels etc .
It should be noted that it is a great mistake to assume that traditional methods should be completely replaced with industrial and modern methods of construction . In fact the history of the UK construction industry during the 20th century has shown that although the share of industrialised methods increased greatly , they were never able to replace traditional methods of construction . Traditional methods have always competed with the industrialised methods by increasing their
28 ZEMCH 2015 | International Conference | Bari - Lecce , Italy