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Views from construction professionals on hospital project construction management using modular prefabricated materials and building information modeling support

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Abstract

This study explains the opportunities of prefabricated modular construction, which includes using building information modeling technology. The findings of this research can help managers and stakeholders understand the opportunities and risks of using modular materials and Building Information Modeling technology. This research also encourages them to use this technology to improve construction management and the quality of hospital construction projects, prepare for plan changes increase, and deal with epidemics. This study investigates the effect of increasing the prefabrication level in hospital projects. Initially, 21 essential criteria in evaluating prefabricated construction were identified by studying related articles and sources and interviewing experts. Then, using the weighted average and the Likert method, 7 top criteria were identified by distributing a questionnaire to experts in this field. The weighting of the criteria was then performed using the questionnaire data and the Shannon entropy method. Next, the best opinions were identified using the VIKOR technique and Excel software based on experts' opinions and selected criteria. The findings revealed that increasing the level of prefabrication reduced the amount of time, the prevalence of infection, the cost of completing the project, and, in some cases, the cost of changing the plan. Moreover increasing the level of prefabrication also improves environmental sustainability, quality, durability, ease of operation, and safety. There are restrictions, particularly in accessing projects built with various prefabrication levels.

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Notes

  1. Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) are infections that patients acquire after 48 h of admission to a healthcare facility.

  2. One of BIM software that is used in 3D modeling of objects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Eyvanekey, Semnan, Iran

    Alireza Abbasi, Vahid Saberi, Hosein Eghbali & Hamid Saberi

Authors
  1. Alireza Abbasi
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  2. Vahid Saberi
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  3. Hosein Eghbali
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  4. Hamid Saberi
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Correspondence to Alireza Abbasi.

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Appendix

Appendix

Questionnaire

Table 8 shows how to calculate the criteria weight or coefficient. Select one of the options in the first column (Very low, Low, Medium, High, Very high).

Table 8 Selection of primary criteria from among all criteria
Full size table

In Table 9, select one of the words (Very low, Low, Medium, High, Very high) according to the impact of the criteria in each option in the corresponding box, and write it.

Option1: Constructing a hospital with full use of traditional materials and traditional methods.

Option2: Building a hospital with traditional materials and methods and using modular walls, materials, and BIM only in clean spaces.

Option3: Building the hospital structure with traditional materials and methods and all walls and spaces with modular materials and BIM.

Option4: Constructing the hospital structure with traditional materials and methods, with all walls or rooms produced in the factory or outside the construction projects in a sectional or segmented manner and transported to that with a trailer and assembled inside each floor after transportation with a crane.

Option5: The entire hospital should be constructed outside of the project, then assembled and installed after being transferred to the desired location.

Note: Since the questionnaire is sent to the experts in a single step, it is not possible to remove the less important criteria taken from experts' opinions in Table 2.

Table 9 Score the options according to the criteria
Full size table

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Abbasi, A., Saberi, V., Eghbali, H. et al. Views from construction professionals on hospital project construction management using modular prefabricated materials and building information modeling support. Archit. Struct. Constr. 4, 55–69 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44150-023-00107-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s44150-023-00107-7

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