EXAMINING THE PERCEPTION OF UTILIZING 3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGY IN SINGAPORE PUBLIC HOUSING

Abstract

Most of the Singapore population is currently residing in public housings. Therefore, the government has announced several plans to increase the quality of living for Singaporeans by providing 3D printed houses. However, limited studies have been conducted in this area as 3D printing technology is comparatively new to the construction industry in Singapore. Therefore, this research aims to determine what are the perceptions of industry professionals regarding the utilization of 3D printing for building future public housings. Also, it aims to examine the statistical difference between the perception of 3D printing from various roles of respondents together with their organisational backgrounds on the advantages, challenges and strategies in adopting 3DP for construction of public housings. An extensive literature review was conducted to identify the advantages, challenges and strategies in adopting construction 3DP. A survey questionnaire was also formulated to determine the perception of industry professionals towards the usage of 3D printing in constructing future public housing. 75 responses were collected during the period from June – August 2019. The survey responses were analysed using non-parametric tests such as Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test, Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal Wallis test, Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient (SRCC). After which, post-interviews were carried out with several industry professionals to further substantiate the results obtained from analysis. Based on the analysis, the top three advantages perceived by respondents are reduction in construction time, labour efficiency, and reduction in injuries. The top three challenges perceived by respondents are size limitation, high upfront cost, and reluctance in investing in 3DP. The top three challenges that are most likely to occur are reluctance in investing in 3DP, lack of expertise and knowledge in 3DP, and size limitation. The top three challenges which has moderate to high criticality when adopting 3DP are size limitation, reluctant in investing in 3DP, and high upfront cost. Finally, the top three strategies perceived by respondents are government incentives, managing expectations, and promote knowledge of 3DP. The findings from this research analysis provides extensive information for Singapore’s construction industry and government agencies on the possible challenges that the industry might face in adopting construction 3DP for public housing in the future. It also introduces several strategies that the industry may adopt to improve overall construction productivity.