New Construction Techniques: Benefits & challenges in adopting in India

While prefab technologies reduce timelines and benefit builders, some challenges remain to be addressed before these technologies are embraced by developers and customers alike.

With a pro-development prime minister at the helm of affairs in India, infrastructure, housing development and urbanisation will receive a big boost. While this is welcome news, a rise in urbanisation will only add to the present housing shortage of 62.45 million units. Due to a rise in the population, this shortage is expected to increase by another 26.33 million units by 2017. To address the shortfall by 2017, the sector needs an estimated investment of Rs106.54 trillion.

It is imperative the Government accelerate efforts to support the housing and construction industry, especially since it is estimated that the sector has forward and backward linkages to more than 300 ancillary industries. Moreover, multiple challenges and human resource shortfalls will not make it easy to address the housing shortage, which will require efforts from the public and private sectors to ensure the NDA Government’s mass housing goals are met.

Prefab Technologies
Against this backdrop, the housing sector needs to adopt modern construction techniques to reduce housing shortfalls by 2017. One way to speed up the creation of homes is by supplementing the traditional ‘brick and mortar’ construction model with modern techniques such as the use of prefabricated structures and materials. In many regions across the globe, prefab technologies have been used to construct homes speedily and cost-effectively. Innovative construction techniques increase the speed of production and compress delivery timeframes. Aluminium form work, prefabricated modules and dry walls are some techniques favoured by realty developers in India.

Faster construction is a boon for builders because the longer the construction timelines, the higher their cost of borrowing funds. Time being money for developers, prefab modular structures and modern construction techniques lead to quicker unit sales and faster revenue generation. In such cases, factory-made components are used to construct buildings. Prefab materials include steel frames for structures, panels made of wood, cement, gypsum and other materials for floors, walls and ceilings, as well as factory-made doors, windows and ventilators. If the project is large, various modules of the structure are made off-site in factories and finally assembled onsite.

The aluminium form work comprises multiple replications of the floors, with all internal and external walls in RCC (reinforced cement concrete), which substantially slashes construction time. If the form work is complete, the multiplication and laying of typical floors is swift, unlike in conventional framed structures. Dry walls and prefab modules reduce timelines considerably as the components are produced at the factory and simply assembled at the site easily and speedily. Additionally, their dead load on the structure is minimal compared to traditional brick walls. Terrace and wall blocks, wall panels, steel frames and plaster boards are also used along with the dry-wall technique.

In fact, with prefab technology, an entire building can be designed through architecture software. Components such as steel frames, wall and ceiling panels as well as floor tiles can be custom-made thereafter. The different components are then taken onsite and assembled. In this manner, houses built with steel frames can have multiple storeys without pillars, beams and concrete. If required, the main structure and outer framework can be built with traditional techniques, while the inside partitions and interiors could be completed with prefab materials.

The Flip Side
Like all modern techniques, though, prefab materials have their pros and cons. While construction time may be reduced and the strength and quality of the building boosted, such materials could be around 20% more expensive than traditional techniques, particularly in small projects. But higher efficiencies, less wastage and lower labour costs could curb the overall costs in large projects. The need for auxiliary services such as plastering, electrical wiring and plumbing may also be redundant because these are taken care of during the casting stage.

Again, while this is a boon for some, it has its downside for others. Aluminium form work or prefab techniques need precision engineering because every aspect of the building is designed before the casting. Thereafter, the process is irreversible. There is therefore no room for modifications or errors of any kind. In other words, once the structure is put up, there is no flexibility. Moving even a single electrical point in the wall can pose an immense challenge due to the RCC structure.

Not surprisingly, such hurdles mean the techniques are still not accepted in India. These techniques also need higher volumes to control some of the costs, which may not be possible in single projects. Besides, even a single hairline crack that may appear in a dry wall could disturb customers, further challenging acceptability.

Ironically, while speedy development benefits developers, this may not necessarily be good for customers opting for construction-linked payment plans. Since 80–90% of the flat’s payment is taken from buyers once the structural framework is ready, faster construction may compound the financial woes of customers, who may be forced to make a bulk of the payments at a faster pace with shorter intervals.

These constraints may, however, not be a concern in large, government-sponsored projects, where cost subsidies and easy-payment options lighten the burden of customers. In the case of other large projects too, economies of scale would still work to the benefit of developers and customers. In a nutshell, despite some initial challenges, modern construction techniques will be adopted by more developers sooner or later.

Vineet Relia, Managing Director, SARE Homes

The views expressed in this article are author´s own