Implementation of Constructability Concepts in Sudan

Abstract

The objectives of this study are to convey the concepts and practice of implementing constructability to Sudan, measure the level of awareness about it, provide guide lines for local construction practitioners who would like to adopt this concept and explore the extent of implementation of constructability concepts in Sudan The methodologies adopted to investigate the research problems were case studies in the Dubai mall hotel project where it was decided to replace the traditional timber forms and steel false works by the self climbing scaffold as a modern prefabricated forms made of aluminium panels and rebar factories were sub- contracted to deliver the steel reinforcement ready cut and bent. As a complementary part to the case studies a questionnaire survey was conducted among the construction practitioners in Sudan. A saving of 50% of time was achieved with approximately 40% of the labours needed for the traditional type of formwork. 90% of the time required for the normal procedures of cutting and bending the steel reinforcement by the labours was saved in addition to the saving of the fabrication yard space and quality and safety improvement. 75% of the questionnaire respondents agreed on the importance of the constructability review during the design stage, but owners are reluctant to invest money for additional efforts for constructability reviews. This could be mitigated in the case of the non traditional contract approaches. Though the traditional contractual approach is the most applied method; the non traditional approaches such as design-build are increasingly growing with scoring of 1.68 against 2.55 for the traditional method. The major barriers for implementing constructability improvement programme were found staff issues and lack of awareness about the importance of constructability.