INDUSTRIALISATION AS A TOOL FOR REDUCING UNCERTAINTY IN CONSTRUCTION

Construction projects are complex and have become more so during the late 20th century. This complexity is due to the failure of planning mechanisms and the apparent inability of plans to represent the reality of on-site construction. The occurrence of unpredictable events disrupts site processes and site conditions sometimes approach that of chaos. One strategy to deal with chaotic site conditions is to increase industrialisation, i.e. a controlled construction process following a predicted plan. The Swedish government suggests that increased competition could be obtained by an augmented use of timber in housing construction through developed building systems for multi-storey houses, and by using the knowledge of single family house manufacturers as catalysts for increased industrialisation in housing. Timber is a relatively “new ” frame material in Swedish multi-storey housing. Hence, the knowledge, techniques and business relations needed for timber housing are lacking in many aspects. The increased competition and the absence of knowledge, techniques and business relations, together with a focus on industrialisation, gives the construction sector a great opportunity to develop general construction activities b