Three factors crucial for raising productivity in construction sector

Key lies in communication, standardisation, balancing foreign labour and automation

- Wong Yang

Precast bathroom units waiting for delivery to a project site. The bulk of a typical HDB project today is built with precast components.

(ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI)

In September, The Straits Times reported that high-tech factories meant to boost construction productivity by producing precast components quickly were operating at a loss.

This is despite efforts by the Government to foster automation in the construction industry in Singapore, which has long been reliant on migrant labour.

Operators of these factories known as integrated construction and prefabrication hubs (ICPHS) told ST the sticking points were storage issues, competition from Malaysia and changes to government policies.

Their struggles reveal the challenges behind raising productivity in construction.

This is not just an industry issue construction productivity affects everything from housing prices to how soon people get their flats.

The ICPHs' costly experience signals three crucial lessons about the conditions that need to be in place for automation to take off:

Close collaboration between policymakers and the industry

Standardisation of building components

Healthy balance between foreign labour and automation

KEEP GOVERNMENT-INDUSTRY COMMUNICATION LINES OPEN

The bulk of a typical Housing Board project today is built with precast components. These are concrete parts walls, facades, bathrooms and other building parts that are made in precast yards or factories, before they are assembled at construction sites.

High-tech precast factories or ICPHs have automated systems that can build these components two to three times faster than open precast yards, where workers manually pour concrete into moulds.

ICPHs were launched in 2012, and the Government had planned to have 10 of these by 2020, but only six have been built so far.