A new framework of industrialized construction in China: Towards on-site industrialization

Many countries and regions consider industrialized construction to be a cleaner production method that facilitates sustainability in the construction industry. In China, proponents of industrialized construction have paid more attention to environmental and social sustainability, but the obstacles to economic sustainability have not been well solved. This study proposes a new industrialized construction method, OSI (On-site Industrialization). OSI combines the advantages of prefabrication and cast-in-situ. To develop and validate the OSI framework, this study conducts a two-phase action research. Based on the holistic overview of industrialized construction, the OSI framework was developed in action research phase 1. This framework includes five basic industrialized principles—standardization, prefabrication, modularization, lean, and sustainability. A multiple-case study was conducted in action research phase 2 to evaluate the sustainability performance of OSI from the perspective of triple-bottom-line (TBL), and the conventional precast concrete construction was used for benchmarking to validate the OSI framework. The findings indicate that OSI is a feasible industrialized construction method to balance the three dimensions of TBL in the Chinese construction industry. This research extends the theoretical knowledge body of industrialized construction while solving some practical problems in the construction industry.