Prefabrication of Building Services

It is anticipated that prefabrication in construction industry will grow in popularity on a global scale in the near future. Analyzing specificity of the Polish market it can be predicted that the growth will be the most noticeable in residential and commercial buildings segments. Several studies have documented numerous benefits of prefabrication compared to traditional building methods. These include significant cost and time savings, enhanced productivity, increased quality of products and works, finally better environmental performance and reduced waste. The technology is gaining popularity not only in architecture and construction sectors, but as well in closely related fields, in particular building services. The paper presents proven applications of prefabrication in building services: prefabrication of repeatable building elements (horizontal pipes/ducts distribution, prefabricated wall modules and other), prefabrication of risers and shafts, prefabrication of technical rooms, modular bathrooms and toilets, finally preassembled or modular buildings including installed services. The shift from traditional construction methods to prefabrication requires significant changes in the construction process: design specific to off-site manufacturing, including BIM utilization, dedicated procurement and tendering strategy, well managed construction logistics, trainings of the staff to ensure proper education level. It is needed as well to overcome negative attitude towards prefabrication among the construction process participants, which may be quite often encountered according to the literature. This requires increasing the awareness of the prefabrication benefits and teaching all parties involved that prefabrication methodology is consistent with lean production principles – it efficiently reduces all types of waste, especially related to time, cost and material.