ADVANCING OFFSITE CONSTRUCTION PRACTICES: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW OF POTENTIAL CHALLENGES TO ADDRESS IRELAND'S SOCIAL HOUSING CRISIS

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Abstract

The Offsite Construction (OSC) industry has positioned itself as a solution to address global housing issues, including Irelands current social housing crisis, through reduced time, cost, and waste, while promoting sustainability. This research investigates potential challenges associated with adopting OSC, which may address Irelands social housing crisis. A systematic literature review (SLR) is conducted using a structured Boolean search across academic journals in Scopus, published between the years 2005 and 2025. The review synthesized global insights into five themes: economic constraints, regulatory barriers, industry limitations, digital technology barriers and cultural resistance, providing a structured framework, offering a holistic understanding of challenges specific to the Irish construction context. Challenges identified include end-user scepticism regarding OSC quality and cost-effectiveness, cultural resistance to new methods, and the absence of a standardised evaluation tools, regulatory fragmentation, and supply chain inefficiencies. This research offers policymakers, industry practitioners and end-users' valuable guidance to proactively address these barriers. The contribution is to identify the challenges associated with implemented OSC to the social housing crisis in Ireland.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAssociation of Researchers in Construction Management, ARCOM 2025 - Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference
EditorsCraig Thomson, Christopher J Neilson
PublisherAssociation of Researchers in Construction Management
Pages567-576
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9780995546394
Publication statusPublished - 2025
Event41st Annual Conference on Association of Researchers in Construction Management, ARCOM 2025 - Dundee, United Kingdom
Duration: 1 Sep 20253 Sep 2025

Publication series

NameAssociation of Researchers in Construction Management, ARCOM 2025 - Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference

Conference

Conference41st Annual Conference on Association of Researchers in Construction Management, ARCOM 2025
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityDundee
Period1/09/253/09/25

Keywords

  • Affordable housing
  • housing for all
  • modular construction
  • social housing
  • sustainability

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