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Skills Required for Offsite Construction

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 CIB World Building Congress 2019
Hong Kong SAR, China
17 – 21 June 2019

Skills Required for Offsite Construction

Buddhini Ginigaddara,
Centre for Smart Modern Construction, Western Sydney University, Australia
(email: b.appuhamilage@westernsydney.edu.au)
Srinath Perera,
Centre for Smart Modern Construction, Western Sydney University, Australia
(email: srinath.perera@westernsydney.edu.au)
Yingbin Feng,
Centre for Smart Modern Construction, Western Sydney University, Australia
(email: y.feng@westernsydney.edu.au)
Payam Rahnamayiezekavat,
Centre for Smart Modern Construction, Western Sydney University, Australia
(email: p.zekavat@westernsydney.edu.au)

Abstract

The construction industry is labour intensive and hence significantly impacted by the skills and
capabilities of the workforce. Given the rapid changes in construction processes due to digitalization
and globalization, the development of emerging skills is essential to futureproof both professional and
vocational personnel who seek employment under smart and modern construction in the 21st century.
Correspondingly, the skills needed for offsite construction activities where buildings are produced
within factories, will be drastically affected in the future. In such a scenario, skills of the workforce
affiliated with a traditional construction style will become obsolete due to the mismatch between the
industry needs and the skills availability. Therefore, this research aims to identify the skill categories
required for smart and modern construction in an offsite construction platform. An industry
engagement workshop activity in the form of a roundtable discussion comprising of both academics
and industry participants was carried out for data collection. There were total of six tables with the
composition of four industry practitioners and two academics on each table. The academics were
responsible for moderating the discussion. The views held by the participants are analysed using
thematic content analysis method to compute the skills required for smart and modern construction.
Ten themes were produced from the 60 skills identified by the participants. Themes were developed to
identify the recurring skills in a single cluster. Findings of the data analysis procedure indicate that
knowledge, interpersonal skills and the ability to embrace digital technology are the key skill
categories needed for future smart and modern construction. Research reveals the key skills that need
to be possessed by both vocational and professional employees in an industrialized construction
environment in order to survive in the rapid modernization of the construction industry. The literature
synthesis related to offsite and onsite construction skills also enable to rationalize the findings. The
significant outcomes of the research are the need to possess digital skills, knowledge on
manufacturing industry processes, interpersonal skills and adaptability to technology which allow the
construction industry employees to thrive in the definite smart and modern construction platform.

Keywords: Professional skills, vocational skills, offsite construction

1. Introduction
One prominent feature of the construction industry is its labour intensive nature backwardness in
digitalisation in comparison to other industries (Woodhead, et al., 2018). At the same time, rapidly
changing technology and digital advancements in the world have affected almost all the sectors
(Dallasega, et al., 2018) including the construction industry (Woodhead, et al., 2018). Hence these
 CIB World Building Congress 2019
Hong Kong SAR, China
17 – 21 June 2019

technology advancements in smart and modern construction will largely affect the traditional skills
possessed by both professional (E.g.: architect, engineer, quantity surveyor) and vocational (E.g.:
bricklayer, mason, carpenter) employees (Daly, 2009), especially when it comes to offsite
construction (Arashpour, et al., 2016). This paper identifies smart and modern construction as “using
smart technologies and processes to facilitate the future of construction industry”. Furthermore, there
is a plethora of research on offsite construction, yet few of them critically addresses the skills required
for future offsite construction in a digitally enabled platform (Hosseini, et al., 2018; Jin, et al., 2018).

Offsite construction is the hybrid of factory operations and onsite construction through multi-skills
development (Arashpour, et al., 2016). Albeit offsite construction is a proven solution for skills
shortage, the same acts as a barrier for the popularity of offsite construction (Blismas, et al., 2009)
resulting in only 3 percent of offsite construction in Australia (Johanson, 2018). Simultaneously, due
to the technological change, construction firms are forced to substitute labour with capital intensive
machineries and technology (Frey & Osborne, 2017) to achieve the organizational targets. This
mismatch of skills possessed by professional and vocational employees of a construction organization
indicate the critical need of the industry reskilling and upskilling to match the digital needs in
technology based construction platforms (World Economic Forum, 2016).

Literature provides minimal information on the skills composition, common materials or the types of
buildings in the offsite construction in Australia, which might be due to the lack of data reporting as
indicated by Blismas, et al. (2009). Further, the transition of construction industry skills due to the
technological advancements under industrialisation is an inevitable fact (Woodhead, et al., 2018), for
which the construction industry is not equipped (World Economic Forum, 2016). Offsite construction
is the answer for sustainable, efficient, safety assured, productive and time saving construction as the
majority of onsite conservative construction activities will be undertaken within an offsite production
factory facility in the future (World Economic Forum, 2016). Despite the immense research done on
offsite construction, the transition of the skills possessed by construction industry workers (vocational
skills) and professionals (professional skills) in such a scenario is not addressed yet. Thus it creates a
research gap as neither the industry practitioners nor the academic scholars are prepared for the
industrialised construction where many skills will be affected in both onsite and offsite construction
platforms. Hence this research aims to identify the skill categories required for smart and modern
construction in an offsite construction platform.

2. Literature Review
Skills shortage has always been one significant issue faced by the construction industry (Clarke, et al.,
2017). Armstrong (2015) mentions 44 percent of global construction companies struggle to find craft
labor and 45 percent lack professional employees. It is identified that the craft skills in Australia are in
shortage nationwide including the trades of bricklayer, stonemason, carpenter, joiner, painter, glazier,
plasterer, tiler and plumber which makes 11 out of 13 traditional construction workers in high demand
(Australian Government, 2017). Consistently, Daly (2009) reveals how the skills shortage leads to
poor productivity. The global productivity value added per worker in the manufacturing industry is
1.7 times higher than the construction industry from the year 1994 to 2012 (Gruszka, 2017). Similarly,
Australia shows its fourth consecutive downfall in construction labour productivity growth to be -
7.3% in 2016-17 while manufacturing industry shows -4.7% decline, which is calculated based on the
number of hours worked (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018). Among the reasons for poor
productivity, exposure to extreme weather, health and safety risk, site wastage, adoption of less
sustainable methods, skills deficiency, skills shortage and human-related aspects are noteworthy for
which various studies have consistently shown that offsite construction is the solution. (Arashpour, et
al., 2016; Blismas, et al., 2009; Daly, 2009; Gann, 1996; Woodhead, et al., 2018; Nadim & Goulding,
2010).

Skills shortage is addressed through offsite construction as this alternative offers reduced reliance on
manpower (Goodier & Gibb, 2007). Consistently, Jaillon and Poon (2008) show a 16% reduction of
 CIB World Building Congress 2019
Hong Kong SAR, China
17 – 21 June 2019

labour usage in offsite construction projects. Further, Goodier and Gibb (2007) confirmed that lack of
skilled electricians, joiners and bricklayers cause for high demand for offsite construction compared to
the traditional construction approach. Additionally, the common skills for both onsite and offsite
construction are leadership, communication, negotiation, Occupational Health and Safety
Management, industrial relations, sustainability and business management (Housing Industry
Association, 2018; Master Builders Australia, 2017). Major offsite construction skills are knowledge
in Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA), production engineering, process efficiency (Miles
& Whitehouse, 2013), multi-skills (Arashpour, et al., 2016), digital design, commercial estimating,
offsite manufacturing, and logistics (Jennifer & Clare, 2017). Conversely, onsite management,
placement and assembly become key skills needed for onsite construction (Jennifer & Clare, 2017).
Nonetheless, the specific vocational and professional skills needed for onsite and offsite construction
activities in smart and modern construction paradigms are not studied in literature (Hosseini, et al.,
2018; Jin, et al., 2018) which makes it a critical need to address the knowledge gap in research.

Table 1: Common, Professional and Vocational Skills from Literature

Professional Skills Vocational Skills

• Professionals working at the site will be • Knowledge (Goulding & Arif, 2013)
Construction

reduced due to the factory based Eg: manufacturing tools

production of buildings (Blismas, et al., • Hoisting, assembly and erection of
Onsite

2009). components (Gann, 1996), sequencing,

joinery, crane work and dogging,
finishing trades (Daly, 2009)
• Designing and manufacturing, • Logistics handling and standardised
knowledge on quality standards, sub-assembly (Southern, 2016)
understanding buildability, business • Multi-skills through job rotation
management skills such as generating (Arashpour, et al., 2016, Miles &
new business models, achieving repeat Whitehouse, 2013)
orders (Daly, 2009) • Trade oriented learning, modern
• Advanced factory production and industry skills (Daly, 2009) such as
logistics management (Southern, 2016) double handling of material, machine
Offsite Construction

• Knowledge in DfMA (Miles & handling packing and unpacking

Whitehouse, 2013), BIM and technology • Fundamental manufacturing practices
driven advanced ERP systems (Goulding (Southern, 2016) such as getting right
& Arif, 2013) at the first time, zero waste, total
• Process management and flexible quality management, lean
manufacturing systems, design for lean management, Just in Time
stock production (Arashpour, et al., • Robot handling and computerisation of
2016) tasks (Frey & Osborne, 2017)
• Whole life costing (Blismas, et al., 2009) • Materials handling, mechanical
• Production engineering and process service installation skills (Miles &
efficienacy, purchasing, planning and Whitehouse, 2013)
project integration (Miles & Whitehouse,
2013)
 CIB World Building Congress 2019
Hong Kong SAR, China
17 – 21 June 2019

• Knowledge management (Nadim & Goulding, 2010, Dallasega, et al., 2018)

• Higher precision skills (Blismas, et al., 2009)
• Safety management, bigger picture awareness, practical skills acquisition (on the job
training), social skills and soft skills such as collaboration, communication,
interpersonal, negotiation and engagement (Daly, 2009)
Common

• IT, Automation and digital skills, programming skills (Eg: CAD/CAM/CIM)

(Airaksinen, et al., 2016)
• Cross industry learning (Arashpour, et al., 2016)
• Sustainable work practices, Integration between design, construction and
manufacturing processes (Goulding & Arif, 2013)
• New technical skills (Miles & Whitehouse, 2013)
Typically, vocational skills are essential to undertake work which come under hard skills including
trade and operational activities (Daly, 2009) whereas professional skills are needed at the management
level to administer construction project monitoring and organisational development activities (Nadim
& Goulding, 2010). Due to the factory-based, technology-driven, industrialised building production in
offsite construction (Gann, 1996), vocational skills required at the operational levels are also similar
to the manufacturing industry (Daly, 2009). The differrent vocational and professional skills needed
for onsite and offsite consrtruction based on critical analysis of literature findings is categoried in
Table 1.

The listed vocational and professional skills for both onsite and offsite construction are mostly on the
themes of knowledge enhancement regarding manufacturing processes, digital capabilities, adaptation
to a manufacturing based production system and also proper stakeholder management. The
interpersonal relationships held with the parties involved will be drastically affected, especially due to
the change of roles of the contractor as a mass customized producer rather than a traditional builder.
Furthermore, Gruszka (2017) opines that the millennials who have been born in a digital era will be
more attracted to a factory-based, technology-driven offsite construction platform. Adoption of smart
and modern construction will result in the current skills shortage in the global construction industry to
be minimized to a considerable level while increasing the productivity as well.

Overall, these studies on the offsite construction industry skills highlight the critical need for
evaluating the skills required to excel in smart and modern construction where technology driven
processes become a key consideration. The evidence presented in this section suggests that the change
will be inevitable especially due to the rapid technology development with the involvement of
robotics and artificial intelligence, heavy reluctance of workers to be a part of the traditional
construction platform and also the industry been lagged behind due to the traditional practices. Hence,
this research encompasses the skill categories that need to be owned by both vocational and
professional workers who wish to be a part of smart and modern offsite construction.

3. Research Methodology
The number of research carried out to reveal findings on various aspects of offsite construction over
the decades is immense (Nadim & Goulding, 2010). Yet, the focus given to the skills requirement and
the change of skills composition in the future construction industry in methodical research is a paucity
(Jin, et al., 2018; Hosseini, et al., 2018). Therefore, this research was carried out in a qualitative
approach by collecting data from a selected panel of industry practitioners and academics with interest
in offsite construction. Participants represented construction practices in Australia. The collected data
was analysed using thematic content analysis to produce findings that are discussed in detail. Figure 1
illustrates the research methodology in a nutshell.

Data collection for the research was carried out at an industry engagement activity in the form of a
roundtable discussion comprised of 24 industry practitioners accompanied by 12 academics. In order
to obtain the current state of knowledge and the perceptions held by industry practitioners, the
 CIB World Building Congress 2019
Hong Kong SAR, China
17 – 21 June 2019

workshop allowed a better platform for engaging and sharing knowledge. Due to the role played by
academics in each table by moderating the discussion and actively engaging each participant in the
discussion, the data collection happened with a strong focused direction to obtain ideas from all the
participants. Hence the participants were keen to come up with possible future skills which are
essential for the betterment of smart and modern offsite construction. The investigation on these
required skills was done through an engagement activity where each group was asked to tabulate the
vocational and professional skills required for future offsite construction industry under smart and
modern construction paradigms.

The total of 36 participants, in all the 6 tables gave 60 responses under the 3 categorizations of
vocational skills, professional skills and skills that are common to both vocational and professional
workers. The data was originally collected as a post-it activity for the ease of discussion and
engagement of industry practitioners and academics as a group and was later transcript.

Figure 1: Research Methodology

Followed by the data collection procedure, data analysis was carried out using the thematic content
analysis approach. A qualitative research approach was selected as the collected data was in different
modes as a result of discussion points. The data available were in the modes of short answers as well
as descriptions of various possible future skills. The lengthy descriptive skills needed for the future
and also the skills mentioned in a straightforward manner were analysed and 10 major themes were
developed to summarize the 60 responses to manageable clusters with similar and recurring ideas.

Generation of these 10 themes was carried out in line with critical analysis of literature findings on
offsite construction skills (Refer Table 1). The themes exhibit the essence of different offsite
construction skills identified by the Roundtable participants. Also, these themes provide insights of
the key skills needed by offsite construction workforce, both vocational and professional, to have an
influence over the possible technological advancements in the 21st century smart and modern
construction.
 CIB World Building Congress 2019
Hong Kong SAR, China
17 – 21 June 2019

4. Roundtable Data and Discussion of Results

The 10 themes which were derived after data analysis is shown in the Table 2 and the Figure 2. These
themes strongly correlate with the literature findings where the researchers have already proved the
definite change of skills requirement for future offsite construction. As per the data analysis
procedure, skills which were not directly in line with the literature findings of offsite construction
were taken in to one theme to avoid the misinterpretation of data. Some of the examples of the skills
which were put under the theme “other” are the ability to solve problems, cross cultural competencies,
coping with stress, specialized skills, leadership and management.

Highest amount of results was visible under interpersonal skills with 20% of total results, followed by
the knowledge in offsite construction which ranked up to the second most important skill with a
percentage of 18.33%. Under the discussion points which were mentioned for interpersonal skills, the
development of soft skills, collaboration with the stakeholders, communication skills, ability to
connect across the offsite construction supply chain, and teamwork are noteworthy. Moreover, these
were distributed among both vocational and professional workers equally followed by the same
frequency under common skills. This shows the importance of developing interpersonal skills by both
vocational workers and professionals in order to survive in smart and modern offsite construction.

Table 2: Skills required for Smart and Modern Offsite Construction

Theme Common Professional Vocational Total

Digital 1 5 3 9
Transition 2 2 2 6
Sustainability 0 1 0 1
Logistics 0 0 1 1
Onsite 0 0 3 3
Knowledge 2 6 3 11
Experience 0 3 1 4
Expertise 0 2 3 5
Interpersonal 4 4 4 12
Other 0 4 4 8
Total 9 27 24 60

The second most important skill of knowledge in offsite construction had a diverse distribution, with
almost double the frequency been shown for professionals compared to the vocational workers. Under
knowledge competencies, the participants came up with the ideas such as knowledge in DfMA,
continuous professional development, input/output psychology of the manufacturing processes,
embracing digitally contained knowledge, and the technical know-how. The similarity of the findings
to the literature findings of Goulding and Arif (2013) and Miles and Whitehouse (2013) indicating the
need of DfMA procurement system knowledge is significant in these findings.

Moreover, one group of participants came up with the idea of knowledge in input/output psychology
in the offsite construction platform which is not a common consideration in the traditional onsite
construction. Further clarification of the result indicated the ability of professionals to understand the
manufacturing procedure within the factory facility in terms of purchased materials and the output of
finished building components or modular buildings. This was only mentioned by a single group under
professional skills specifying the level of knowledge that needs to be possessed by construction
 CIB World Building Congress 2019
Hong Kong SAR, China
17 – 21 June 2019

industry professionals about the entire production process in a digitalised work platform. It is opposed
to the current practice where a professional is only aware about their own specialised area of the
construction project in traditional construction. The literature of Gann (1996) is also similar in nature
where professionals have to be thorough about the manufacturing procedures as offsite construction
has numerous similarities to factory built cars and not onsite step by step constructed buildings.

The next significant finding of the analysed data is the consideration given by participants on the
digital skills possession. The frequency owned by professional workers are relatively high with the
examples of awareness of new technologies, information and communication technology
competencies, computer skills, and finally the know-how on developing virtual realities. Even though
the data seems to be dispursed in various digital competencies, relevance of findings to the literature
bought up by Airaksinen, et al. (2016) is significant. The authors present the critical need of
possessing skills such as digitalisation, automation, industrialisation to cope up with the smart city
visions of the future. Hence these digital skills will play a vital role in the future offsite construction
platforms where big data analytics, cyber security and cloud computing becomes key responsibilities
of the leaders and managers (professionals) of a construction project.

25.00%
Frequency of Responses

20.00%

15.00%

10.00%

5.00%

0.00%

Skill Categories

Figure 2: Skills Summary

Transition has gained 10% of total responses with a count of 6 out of 60. Even though the number
does not indicate the relative criticality of the need for change, the ability to adapt to these new
factories based environments in completely new organizational structures will be a key skill to be
possessed by both professional and vocational workers. Akin to the research outputs of Blismas, et al.
(2009), the roundtable discussion event participants presented their thoughts on how this transition
will affect the basic skills, the work environment as well as the mindset of the people who have been
used to the concepts of traditional onsite construction for a long period of time.

The onsite construction skills were only mentioned to be required by the vocational workers and none
of the professionals seem to be in need of developing future onsite construciton skills as per the
findings. Among these onsite skills, the considerations given for gaining on the job training,
workplace health and safety management and and the skills for finishing the erected building are
notable. It is remarkable how the same findings were supported by literature where Blismas, et al.
(2009) mentioned that the professionals need not to have much onsite related skills especially on an
offsite factory based construction platform. The same has been justified through the data analysis
proceudre of this research.

Finally, it is essential to mention that the least consideration given to logistics management and
sustainability by the discussion participants seems to be relatively unrealistic. The overall score of
both the themes was 1.67% each with only one group mentioning the skills required in these two
 CIB World Building Congress 2019
Hong Kong SAR, China
17 – 21 June 2019

categories to be critical for smart and modern offsite construciton. It is contraverse to the literature
findings of Goulding and Arif (2013) and also Miles and Whitehouse (2013) where the skills and
knowledge on sustainability, logistics management play vital roles in offsite construction platforms.

5. Implications of Findings
One significant factor to be noted under the research findings is that 3 out of the 60 responds were
about multi-skills and multi-tasking. Under the traditional construction platform, almost all the
workers are assigned for a specific task such as the basic construction trades of bricklayer,
stonemason, carpenter, plumber, electrician, and even the professionals like architect, quantity
surveyor, construction manager, civil engineer and the like. However, the research findings indicate
that the basic paradigms of the construction industry will be changing to a novel platform where
minimal human involvement is visible. This might be the future of construction industry where
humans and machines work together to achieve the best possible results within the least possible time.

Interpersonal skill that need to be possessed by both professionals and vocational workers is
evidenced to be the most critical skill for smart and modern offsite construction. Under a factory
produced building scenario, new stakeholders will come in to the construction project activities where
all the processes will be aligned in a different sequence than the traditional onsite construction. The
typical method of the client reaching out for an architect to design a unique building, and then
selecting a suitable contractor followed by onsite building construction will be changed to where mass
produced, customized buildings are purchased by the clients for onsite assembly and installation.
Therefore, communication and having strong relationships with the stakeholders makes a key
requirement for the benefit of repeat sales unlike the conservative hostile environment of a
construction project. This result gives the implications of a strong cultural change in the offsite
construction platform where activities will be driven through technology and productivity orientation
along with the traditional construction project objectives of meeting cost, quality and time targets.

The idea of change or the transition is not given a sizable significance in the findings which might be
due to the step by step approach of reaching the factory based building production in offsite
construction. Furthermore, some Australian construction organizations have already embraced this
change who also acted as the participants of the roundtable discussion. Therefore, the adaptability of
skills might not be a future requirement for the industry practitioners as they have already faced this
transition of factory production of buildings over the last few years. The only consideration here will
be the minimal amount of offsite construction taken place in Australia according to the 3% of total
construction output as shown by Johanson (2018). Even though the results seem to be contradictory,
there are several leading construction organizations in the country to whom this concept of buildings
within a factory is not new.

The experience and expertise are two different themes where the experience indicated the number of
years a person has worked in the industry while expertise reffered to the person’s ability to do a task
in a competent manner. The findings reveal that expertise in a given task is more important for smart
and modern offsite construction rather than the number of years a person has spent in the construction
industry. This is a key indication of the digital skills possessed by construction industry workers as
well, where the performance become more significant with higher productivity levels irrespective of
the long years of being in the industry.

The results of this research did not show much critical implication to the skills required by workers
related to sustainability as well as logistics management. However, these are two of the key driving
factors of offsite construction irrespective of the criticality of using offsite construction. The reduction
of site wastage due to the factory controlled lean and agile manufacturing procedures, directly cause
for sustainable offsite building construction. Furthermore, once the buildings are produced within the
factory, the logistics management of transporting the modular building or the component to the
construction site in a viable manner becomes a key requirement. Contrary to expectations, the findings
 CIB World Building Congress 2019
Hong Kong SAR, China
17 – 21 June 2019

did not give much weightage to these 2 crucial skills of the offsite construction industry which might
be due to the relatively higher importance given to the interpersonal skills, knowledge in
manufacturing processes and also the digital skills. Taken together, these results suggest that there is
an association between the literature review and the research findings. It indicates the critical need of
the construction industry practitioners to be ready for the skills generation and skills ownership to
match the definite transion of offsite construction under smart and modern construction platforms.

6. Conclusion and Recommendations

The purpose of this research was to identify the skill categories required for smart and modern
construction in an offsite construction platform. The results of both the literature review and the
discussion of findings indicated the key concerns that need to be given by both professional and
vocational workers of the industry on developing interpersonal skills. This was followed by the
importance given to possessing knowledge on offsite construction and manufacturing procedures
where traditional construction work activities will be completely changed and affected in a factory
environment. Furthermore, both types of workers need to be keen on acquiring digital skills to work
hand in hand with machines, robots and especially artificial intelligence in order to succeed in a smart
and modern construction platform. Even though the traditional construction seems to be lagging
behind technology as well as meeting sufficient productivity, the incorporation of manufacturing
processes in building production will cause for the industry practitioners to be ready for such changes
in the future.

Moreover, this transition will result in the construction industry being more attractive for the
millennials who are reluctant to be an onsite worker, yet are equipped with strong digital capabilities.
The same will result in eradicating the skills shortage in the construction industry which has been a
never ending problem, compelling the construction organizations to move to new machine driven
technologies rather than relying on the costly labour in the global construction industry. This research
will serve as a base for future studies where the different aspects of offsite construction industry
changes can be analysed. The generalizability of these result is subject to certain limitations as the
sample of data collection was from an industry engagement roundtable discussion event rather than a
structurally selected population and sample of research participants. Hence it acts as a limitation of the
research defining the scope of the findings to be relatively concerned about the Australian
construction industry.

This research has shown the need of future research as several questions remain unanswered. These
include identifying the demand and supply of skills and skill categories under smart and modern
construction based offsite construction. Moreover, there is abundant room for predicting the future
skills demand based on factors of possible moves from onsite to offsite construction. Furthermore, it
is recommended that further research to be carried out in predicting the smart and modern
construction skill needs so that the education providers can be the benefit gainers to match the future
construction industry requirements.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the support by the industry engagement workshop, the
roundtable participants who took part in providing data for this research activity. Also, the
opportunity given by the Center for Smart Modern Construction of the Western Sydney University by
granting the scholarship for Doctoral Research Candidature is much appreciated.

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