In recent years, the advance of technology and construction techniques has led to a significant increase in interest in the use of prefabricated building systems or industrialized construction systems. In this article we will discuss these systems, the most important advantages and review the history in terms of innovation and new trends.
What is a prefabricated building?
Prefabrication is a construction system based on the design and production of components and subsystems that are mass-produced in a factory away from their final location and brought to their final position to assemble the building after a simple, precise and non-laborious assembly phase.
When we talk about a prefabricated building, the field operations are essentially assembly, not processing. In short, a prefabricated building is, to all intents and purposes, a real residential or service structure, with high performance in terms of consumption, maintenance and durability, resistant to atmospheric and seismic agents.
A brief history of prefabrication
Very interesting historical examples have been noted. Perhaps, the first precedent of modular prefabrication dates back to the 16th century. And although during all these years, it cannot be considered prefabrication in its pure state, since the construction of elements was not in series but designed for singular buildings, a valuable change of mentality applied to construction has been appreciated during the passage of time.
It was not until 2006 that the use of the prefabricated system for housing and commercial areas began to develop and spread exponentially throughout the world, due to the massive use of companies such as McDonald’s and Burger King for their franchises.
Currently, there is a wide variety of ranges and qualities of prefabricated commercial and residential buildings. In fact, there are many types of prefabricated buildings. They can be made of wood, metal, using traditional materials, for example. All these variants guarantee high stability and considerable savings in the final construction costs, especially for tighter budgets.
How many types of industrialized or dry construction are there?
In the industrialized construction system, also known as dry construction, there are basically two types:
– By means of PREFABRICATED PANELS. These are constructions made from standardized sections (LEGO-type pieces) that are built in the factory and assembled on site.
– By means of PREFABRICATED MODULES. Also known as “mobile home” where the constructions are assembled in the factory to be transported in trucks to the construction site where they will be installed.
Prefabricated construction undoubtedly offers many advantages:
- Speed of production and speed of execution.
- Easy disassembly, less environmental impact.
- Absolute certainty of execution costs.
- Reduction of possible manufacturing errors.
- Simple maintenance and high energy efficiency.
- It guarantees high performance and a sustainable alternative to traditional concrete.
However, it also presents some disadvantages such as design limitations due to the standardization of the manufacturing process and transportation to the assembly or installation site.
Prefabricated buildings are also subject to current regulations, with building permits, just like traditional ones, so let’s break down some of the differences between dry or traditional brick/wet brick construction to better understand them.
Prefabricated / Dry construction VS traditional brick / wet?
Both are construction systems, so each one has its own characteristics, and a better or better performance, depending on the functions to be fulfilled on site, the type of construction we want to perform, the available resources of materials and labor, the desired time of execution, we can determine according to our needs, which is better, dry construction or traditional brick.
Brick construction is the most common construction system in our country, also known as wet work. It is an artisanal construction system, consisting of load-bearing walls made of ceramic bricks, concrete blocks or reinforced concrete or steel structures, with enclosures based on walls built on site. It has outstanding advantages, such as the fact that the buildings are durable and solid and enjoy total freedom in design, although wet construction is slow, heavy, conditioned to the weather, and consequently more expensive.
On the other hand, dry construction offers several benefits, such as a great reduction in construction time. With good planning, it is possible to achieve optimization in dry construction materials, thus generating savings in materials and a reduction in labor time.
With brick construction, it has been proven that, with proper maintenance, a useful life of more than 100 years can be achieved. Although dry construction systems were introduced in our country no more than 40 years ago, many projects are proving to meet durability expectations. This is best evidenced in countries where these systems have been in use for much longer. For example, it is enough to think that in several countries prefabricated houses have reached 40% of the total construction, Japan being the spearhead.
The use of prefabricated modules has no limits and allows from the installation of prefabricated site-built houses to the construction of truly exclusive and customizable buildings. It is very important to recognize both systems individually, and to know that it is not necessary to go into the decision of one or the other. They can also be merged and achieve results with excellent designs and efficiency.
From the PAGÈS BCN GROUP we work with any type of prefabricated construction, but currently we can offer very competitive prices with light wood frame systems, modular steel and reinforced concrete.
Although we, the Spanish, are only now beginning to realize that it works, since we have a regulation that accepts it, there are countries, all of them at the forefront of innovation and development (Canada, USA, Chile, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Japan, Germany…), that have been demonstrating for years and years that it is a perfectly tested and proven system that also gives impeccable results, especially when used for single-family homes of up to two or three floors with or without a basement.
These are some of the projects that GRUPO PAGÈS BCN has already carried out.
REFERENCES
WIKIPEDIA. Prefabrication https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefabricaci%C3%B3n
CAPP. Lucas Macedo Which is better, dry or traditional brick construction?https://webcapp.com/blog/index.php/2020/04/14/que-es-mejor-construccion-en-seco-o-tradicional-cual-conviene-mas-barato/
ECO INVENTS. Advantages and types of prefabricated buildings https://ecoinventos.com/ventajas-tipos-construcciones-prefabricadas/
Light Wood Truss Platform System. Santiago Inat Trigueros https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/41804617.pdf
BARBIERI. What is dry construction? https://www.adbarbieri.com/blog/que-es-la-construccion-en-seco
