AAR 4283 1

The Review of Industrial Building System in Malaysia

The Review of Industrial Building System in Malaysia

Introduction The trend of the Malaysian construction industry has moved from the traditional method to IBS manufacturing and similarly, the productivity have moved from project based to product based. The phenomenal transition of the construction industry to prefabricate manufacturing has also occurred in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, United Kingdom and United States. The implementation of prefabrication in the construction industry has enhanced productivity and improved quality as well as several benefits such as shortened construction time, lower overall con struction cost, improved quality, enhanced durability, better architectural appearance, enhanced occupational health and safety, material conservation, less construction site waste, less environmental emissions, and reduction of energy and water consumption

Industrialized Building System in Malaysia Industrialised Building System (IBS) is regarded as many terminologies such as a product, process, technique, approach, system and development model. There have been many programmes and promotions by Malaysian Government in order to implement the Industrialised Building System (IBS) as an efficient and valuable construction system. Even though the IBS has was used since 1966, there is not an agreed definition on Industrialised Building System (IBS) which could elaborate this construction method. Nevertheless, there have been a number of studies which describe the Industrialised Building System (IBS) as off-site method (manufacturing, production and construction), construction and building system(automation, non-traditional Industrialization, innovative solutions, modularisation, prefabricated, precast and pre-assembled.

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The Review of Industrial Building System in Malaysia

Classification Precast concrete framed buildings

Descriptions The most common group of IBS products is the precast concrete elements; precast concrete columns, beams, slabs, walls, 3-D components (e.g. balconies, staircases, toilets, lift chambers, refuse chambers), lightweight precast concrete, as well as permanent concrete formworks.

Formwork System

Considered as one of the low-level or the least prefabricated IBS, as the system generally involves site casting and is therefore subject to structural quality control, the products offer high-quality finishes, and fast construction with less site labour and material requirement.

Steel Framing System

Commonly used with precast concrete slabs, steel columns and beams, steel framing systems have always been the popular choice and used extensively in the fast-track construction of skyscrapers. Recent developments in this type of IBS include the increased usage of light steel trusses consisting of cost-effective profiled coldformed channels and steel portal frame systems as alternatives to the heavier traditional hotrolled sections.

Prefabricated Timber Framing System

The system consists of timber building frames and timber roof trusses. While the latter are more popular, timber building frame systems also have their own niche market, offering interesting designs from simple dwelling units to buildings requiring high aesthetical values such as chalets for resorts.

Blockwork System

The construction method of using conventional bricks has been revolutionised by the development and usage of interlocking concrete masonry units (CMU) and lightweight concrete blocks. The tedious and time-consuming traditional brick-laying tasks are greatly simplified by the usage of these effective alternative solutions.

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The Review of Industrial Building System in Malaysia

Industrialized Building System in Malaysia The Malaysian government has encouraged the construction industry to move towards Industrialized Building System (IBS) which can produce high volume of houses at affordable cost especially low-cost houses. Government agencies such as Jabatan Kerja Raya (JKR) and Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB); and researchers have played vital roles to educate the main players of the construction industry in the form of policies, financial incentives, strategy guidelines, workshops and seminars to increase the awareness among the end users and clients. Industrialization of high rise residential building components is critical to competitiveness and has become a new trend in order to solve the housing problem and meet the demand for affordable homes especially in big cities with limited space for development area. Thus, CIDB had implemented the IBS Score in construction industry to measure the level of IBS usage in building and become part of the main monitor system of the IBS construction industry. In the Budget 2005, the policies of the usage of IBS components in government building projects will be increased from 30 percent currently to 50 percent commencing 2005. Housing developers who utilise IBS components exceeding 50 percent, will be given full exemption on levy imposed by CIDB.

Benefits of IBS The benefits derived from the implementation of IBS are the speeding up of the construction process, the integration of sustainability strategies, reduction of wastages during construction, and the minimization of hazards and risks Others benefits of industrialised building system are: 1. Optimum use of materials, repetitive and reuse of molds, less waste of materials

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The Review of Industrial Building System in Malaysia

2. Factory-made quality products from rational and efficient manufacturing processes, employment of skilled workers, repetitive procedures, and constant quality surveillance and control, etc. 3. Shorter construction time - less than half of the time taken in conventional cast in-situ construction 4. Contruction operation is not affected by adverse weather condition because prefabricated components are manufactured in a factory controlled environment 5. Prefabrication takes place at centralised factories, thus reducing labour requirement at site. A high degree of mechanisation is involved 6. Opportunities for innovative architecture as the system provide opportunities for designers and builders to explore creative designs using the IBS. 7. Environmentally friendly way of building by better use of available building materials, production systems leading to the reduction of harmful impact on the environment.