by Cheryl Tay
Prefabricated building components will help drive productivity in the construction sector, according to National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan.
In a recent blog post, Khaw wrote about his visit to the new S$36 million Tiong Seng Prefabrication Hub (pictured) located in Tuas. He said what Tiong Seng has introduced to the local scene "is the automation and mechanisation in the production of these prefab building components."
Khaw said that the hub has significantly reduced manpower costs by 70 percent, with a third of the previous number of workers now producing twice the volume of precast components.
Comparatively, the old approach used a manual, labour-intensive practice. "Work was often noisy, slow, dusty and was carried out in large, open yards, resulting in poor use of land, labour and equipment," he added.
"The Prefab Hub stands out as being truly multi-purpose. The facility not only houses the automated precast plant; it has space for building prefabricated bathroom units, and for pre-assembling, storing and maintaining advanced formwork systems. It also has a training centre, a Building Information Modelling (BIM) Centre and a workers' dormitory."
When the Prefab Hub becomes fully operational, a 24-hour operation is expected to produce enough parts for 5,000 HDB units. "A few more of such hubs will help us build more flats quickly, and with better finishes."
Khaw noted that this is the reason why the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) recently launched the tender to develop the next Integrated Construction and Precast Hub (ICPH) in Kaki Bukit.
"The Tiong Seng plant is inspiring and we look forward to seeing more of such hubs sprouting up in Singapore."
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