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Precast Concrete Construction : Its Challenges and Implementation for Mass Housing in India

Ronak Rajendra Dhoot: Masters in Construction Project Management UK

Vinny Manocha: B.Tech in Civil Engineering; Jaypee Univerity of IT

Keywords:  Precast, Concrete, Mass Housing, Construction, Lean

Abstract

Source: Cushman & Wakefield Research, Office of the Register Genral & Census Commissioner. India

Urbanization in India has generated huge demand for housing which neither the cities nor the housing sector is prepared for. The number of urban agglomerations has increased from 384 in 2001 to 475 in 2011, a decadal increase of 23.7%. As per the twelfth five year plan (2012-17) the total housing shortage in rural areas is 43.66 million units. In order to cater the issue surrounds the shortage of affordable and low cost mass housing at a much competitive cost and on time schedule, it is imperative to adopt alternative construction system. The Indian construction industry led by traditional mode of construction as characterized by challenges such as low productivity, lack of skilled labor, time and cost overruns etc. Precast Concrete Construction, the so called unconventional method in Indian Construction Industry can cater the above needs by offering both speed and quality of the construction. The research and applications of precast concrete structural systems are intended to support the low cost mass construction at a much accelerated rate. This research aims to critically analyses these above factors and overcome with the guidelines to address the bottlenecks of Implementing PCC technology in India

Introduction

As per the 2011 study report conducted by Ernst & Young and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the construction industry in India is grappling with a 30% labor shortage.. According to the report "Indian Construction Sector: The Great Leap Forward," released earlier this year by Synergy Property Development Services, the country's labor shortage is "pegged to go up by 65% by the next decade, with more workers  and  professionals  shifting  from  construction  and  real  estate  industries  to  real  estate  to  services industries. Due to uncertainties and unavailability of the workers, the companies schedules goes out of the window creating huge stress on project schedules, thus compromising on quality to meet the deadlines. The Indian construction industry is characterized by challenges such as low productivity, lack of skilled labor, time and cost overruns etc (Ramaswami,2009). Moreover, The Indian Construction Industry has changed rapidly since 5 to 6 years. The large-scale projects comprising of Townships, Mass Housings, IT/ITES parks, and SEZs are of common occurrence these days and will only grow exponentially in the near future. The Construction industry is facing problems such as shortage of skilled labor, poor workmanship, and low quality of construction. There is a huge shortfall in meeting the demands of affordable housing. The urban population of India is expected to rise to 576 million by 2030 (currently population is 350 million) (Goyal,2013). Nonetheless housing is an industry that is mainly still hand crafted and majorly depends on manual labor and on-site construction, resulting in to large tones of material wastage, work inefficiency and lag in project deliverance.

L&T's Pragathi (G+23) in Bhoiwada, Parel, Mumbai.

Precast Building Technology in India is facing various challenges due to lack of awareness of advantages of precast, resistance to change, lack of expertise, lack of guidance, information and an assumption that precast is costly proposition in contrast to conventional without bearing in the mind the overall benefits associated with it and one of the fact that construction industry is not yet shifted to standardization. With the changing face of realty sector in Indian market, the change of construction methodology from conventional to precast building construction is anticipated.

India’s geographical position poses challenges to the construction industry. Seismic activity is the most worrying natural threat the building industry has to take into careful consideration to which precast industry offers solutions that have been widely  tested  in  real conditions.  The rainy season lasts for four months, creating additional challenges for the building project management. Precast parts can be manufactured  in  surroundings  where the  effects of  rain  and  other weather conditions can be eliminated.

Precast technology has been proven to be  a  good  solution  for  work  safety. Like many other countries, India is also facing a shortage of skilled labor in the building industry. Precast is less labor- intensive. An additional advantage of precast  is  that  during  manufacturing and installation similar work-routines are  repeated.  This  helps  workers  to learn   and   become   more   efficient, project after project.

There are some perceptions that precast construction is inflexible with respect to changes and upkeep of the work. But when we consider L&T’s Pragati, Architectural features were customized as per the requirement of client. Also Aesthetic value of the project is enhanced because of the variety of colours and architectural finishes possible in precast concrete.

Major Challenges:

Tata Peenya (G+14) by Shapoorji Pallonji & Co.

  • Design - Precast structures are divided into number of structural elements and every element has to be designed separately depending upon the loading on a particular member.
  •  Incorporation of MEP services.
  •  Investment - Initial huge investment due to factory setup, machineries, RMC plants, tower cranes etc.
    • Human resources - Lack of skilled manpower with the knowledge of precast industry, operation of various machineries, erection.
    •  Site Accessibility - Lack of developed road network that could sustain the load of a trailer (20 to 25 tonnes).
    •  Storage - The areas on the site for stacking of precast elements is less due to smaller sites.
    •  Taxes – huge taxes applicable to manufacturing units (for factory based plants)

Approach towards optimization:

  • Construction of similar building elements wherein there could be a huge repetition of moulds resulting in increased productivity and economy in cost.
  • Grade of concrete is minimum M40 in Precast construction compared to that of conventional construction, also the high tensile steel used for prestressing hollowcore slabs is four times stronger thereby imparting double strength with marginal increase in cost due to other factors, making it more Economical on a whole.
  • Optimization while finishing as the precast panels would not require plaster and neither would there be a separate requirement for MEP manpower thereby reducing cost, labour requirement and saving time.
  • Adopting  mix  of  cast  in  situ  and  factory  assembled  units  wherever  required  instead  of  the  usually considered ‘all precast or no precast approach’ to design
  •  To consider the advantages of all categories of precast concrete namely components, panels & volumetric.
    • Casting of elements both in factory as well as on site by studying the feasibility of conditions to optimize by saving transportation cost and increasing production.
Advantages Disadvantages
High Quality Large Initial Investment
Fast Construction Heavy lifting equipment required Reduction in manpower
Longer Preparation time required Less wastageand safety standards Transportation of Precast elements Good healthTaxation
Durable construction material Limited Flexibility
Large floor spans possible Large storage stock yard required

Research Study

Research Strategy:

DDA's Mass Housing LIG and EWS at Narela & Rohini

The approach adopted was via online survey questionnaires, case studies, physical interviews as well as telephonic interviews. The questionnaire was circulated through an online platform to precast professionals across the India and UAE. Also it was circulated to developers, builders and realtors in India order to take their views into account while analyzing the data .It mainly targeted all the metro cities. The interviews were conducted with the precast manufacturers of Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai.

Analysis of Interviews:

Interview responses were recorded in suitable electronic device and the responses, discussions and views were segregated into following objectives -

  •  To explore problems of implementation of precast Building technology
    • To study different stages & process involved in Precast Concrete Construction of commercial, industrial and residential sectors
  •  To investigate the barriers of precast industry and overcome them with alternative guidelines
  •  To explore future opportunities in Precast Concrete Construction

Interviewers believed that change management is the biggest barrier in order to flourish the precast industry in the market. The developers are reluctant to change their mentality from conventional to precast methodology. Secondly, connections are also one major Issue. The designers from India have no Indian standard to refer. They are referring to PCI code of provisions. Contractors are reluctant to accept the connections provided by the precast designers.

For the precast development you need to target the right cities where there is a high development people are shortage of homes and there is real demand of homes. Moreover precast manufacturers need to set up the factory

based precast plant. It should be located in a such a way it is near upcoming large development areas in order to avoid transportation costs.

On site Plant Vs Factory based plant:

One major argument that different precast professionals had extreme opinions was on the set up the type of precast plant, either Factory based plant or Site based. Some responders suggested that Site based plant is only the solution to Indian Precast industry for economical construction due to the huge amount of taxes applicable to a manufacturing industry (Factory based plant), initial investment for a factory setup & due to lack of good quality roads that could sustain the load of a trailer (20 to 25 tonnes); whereas a few others, on the contrary believed that site based plant is not an ideal option for the Indian construction industry as although it would eliminate the transportation cost but could hamper the quality of the precast elements thereby losing one important attribute of the precast technology. Also Prestressed elements such as hollow core slabs cannot be casted on site as it is a permanent setup.

Attitude of the developers:

The risk of adopting a new technology and the question of consequences of such huge investment is resisting developers to realise the strengths of precast completely; but the pressure to meet the project completion timelines and rising demands of urbanisation, would eventually lead to the growth of technology in next 5 years.

Case Studies

Multi-storied building for MHADA:

Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA)  wanted to construct multi-storied buildings for HIG in Mumbai in the shortest possible time. The project involved construction of six buildings 8-storeyed high consisting of 168 flats covering about 1,20,000 sq. ft. area. Each building is 16.5 m long, 16.6 m wide and

24 m high with a stilt floor at the ground level for parking vehicles. The building consisted of precast columns, prestressed floor beams and hollow core slabs. The structure was designed as a coupled shear wall with frame action. Columns for the buildings were cast and erected in two pieces. The entire 8-storeyed building was erected in 45 days. The buildings were constructed in 1987 and are performing well till now.

MES staff quarters of Leh-Ladakh

Military Engineer services wanted to construct quarters for their officers in Leh ladakh where temperature goes up to -20 degrees. Logistics of site conditions demanded that entire project should be completed only in the span of three months during summer working season. It was difficult to produce good quality concrete in cold climate with limited resources of men, materials and equipments .Moreover the quarters should be insulated agianst extreme cold. To meet these important criteria, application of precast concrete insulated sandwich panels were used for wall and roof panels. They were cast at an established factory near Mumbai and kept ready for transportation to Leh.. Precast elements were loaded at Panvel (Mumbai) in train and transported to Pathankot . From Pathankot precast elements were transported in MES truck to Leh. Weight of the precast elements was kept minimum to handle precast elements during transportation and erection. Precast elements were directly erected from the trucks over the strip footing cast at the site. The unique feature of this projects was precast elements were by train and trucks for a distance of about 2000 kms and erected in a short period using locally available equipments  in remote area with extreme climatic conditions

Conclusions and findings from the research in order to address the bottlenecks in the precast industry-

The study reveals that affordable housing in the Government and segments is a huge opportunity for construction projects for implementing precast technology. As the transportation and the taxation (excise duty) are the major concerns of the industry as a whole, the precast professionals should opt for different strategies and alternatives in order in order to confront the problems by coming up with the concept of site based precast units for mass development by taking maximum advantage of the precast technology without compromising on the quality of the finished product. The strategy can be either factory based or site based precast plant provided that  there are huge mass volumes to implement (approximately 30 to 50 acres) and secondly your precast solution should less than or equal to prices of conventional methodologies Residential sector which comprise of huge shortfall of affordable housing is the best segment to target for the prosperous precaster. Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai seem to be best places to implement precast Building technology in India. All the realtors in the India are absorbing the concept of precast technology well..Identifying the realtors who believe in precast

technology and promoting this technology to them is the best strategy for precast to flourish All the Architect’s , Consultants, Main Contractors  are the crucial stakeholders of the project so they need create awareness to the client about the alternative building systems in the industry.

List of references-

Smith, R. () 'Prefabrication in Developing Countries: a case study of India.' , ijanto, S. (2006)

'Precast/Prestressed Concrete Systems at Seismic Prone Area in Indonesia.' NZSEE Conference,

Bendi et al. (2012) 'Offsite Construction in India - An Exploratory Study.' Proc. of Int. Conf. on Structural and

Civil Engineering , Hardas, M. (2012) 'An Overview of Construction of Buildings in Precast Concrete.' The Masterbuilder

,Subramanyan, H., Sawant, P. & Bhatt, V. (2012) 'Construction Project Risk Assessment: Development ofModel Based on Investigation of Opinion of Construction Project Experts from India.' JOURNAL OF CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT , 409-421Vahanen Group () 'Vahanen: Services throughout the life span of the built environment.' VAHANEN , Sarma, B. () 'Future of Precast construction in mass housing in India.' , Goyal, C. (2013) 'Casting a Concrete Future.' The Master Builder , Purandare, S. () 'Precase in India - Latest Thinking.' Innovela Building Solutions , Deb, S. (2012) 'Precast Concrete for Building Systems.' The Masterbuilder ,Prabhkar, M. (2011) 'Modular Buildings: Spurt in Modular Construction could trigger PEB Market Growth.' The Masterbuilder , Ramaswamy, K.P. and Kalidindi, N.S. (2009) 'Waste In Indian Building Construction Projects.

Smith, E.R and Narayanamurthy, S. (2008) 'Prefabrication in Developing Countries: A Case study of India.' Without a Hitch: New directions in Prefabricated Architecture ,  48-53 Kim et al. (2013) 'Environmental impacts comparison between on-site vs.prefabricated just-in-time (prefab-jit) rebar supplying construction projects.' journal of civil engineering and management 19(5), 647-655 Doloi, H., Sawhney, A. &Iyer, K. (2012) 'Structural equation model for investigating factors affecting delay in Indian construction projects.' Construction Management and Economics 30, 869-884 Gibb, A. &Isack, F. (2001) 'Client drivers for construction projects: implications for standardization.' Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management 8, 46-58 Balwin et al. (2009) 'Designing out waste in high-rise residential buildings: Analysis of precasting methods and traditional construction.' Elsevier 34, 2067-2073 Shen, L., Tam, V. & Li, C. (2009) 'Bene?t analysis on replacing in situ concreting with precast slabs for temporary construction works in pursuing sustainable construction practice.' Elsevier 53, 145-148 Wu, P., Low, S. & Jin, X. (2013) 'Identi?cation of non-value adding (NVA) activities in precast concrete Kim et al. (2013) 'Environmental impacts comparison between on-site vs.prefabricated just-in-time (prefab-jit) rebar supplying construction projects.' journal of civil engineering and management 19(5), 647-655 Shen, L., Tam, V. & Li, C. (2009) 'Bene?t analysis on replacing in situ concreting with precast slabs for temporary construction works in pursuing sustainable construction practice.' Elsevier 53, 145-148 Wu, P., Low, S. & Jin, X. (2013) 'Identi?cation of non-value adding (NVA) activities in precast concrete

Authors:

1. Ronak Rajendra Dhoot: Masters in Construction Project Management UK A very young and a passionate individual with a zeal towards Precast concrete Technology. Within depth studies in Research and Development of Precast building technology in India since 2011 with a strong vision that Precast Building technology would be the future of the Indian Construction Industry.

Strengths:Innovation & Research in Precast Construction Technology Feasibility studies? Precast Vs Cast in situ Strategic Planning of  PCC elements Business Development

2. Vinny Manocha: B.Tech in Civil Engineering; Jaypee Univerity of IT

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