The National Institute of Building Sciences
Off-Site Construction Council (OSCC) will convene Monday, January 6, during Building Innovation 2014:
The National Institute of Building Sciences Conference & Expo, for its
first official meeting of the membership. All industry professionals are
welcome.
Off-site construction is the planning, design,
fabrication and assembly of building elements at a location other than their
final installed location to support the rapid and efficient construction of a
permanent structure. It is characterized by an integrated planning and supply
chain optimization strategy.
The Institute’s Board of Directors approved the
formation of the OSCC earlier this year in response to the growing need for
information and consistency in the development and use of off-site construction
project components.
Internationally, prefabrication and off-site
fabrication have provided numerous productivity benefits—specifically in the
areas of labor, scheduling, cost, quality and safety. In the United States, the
National Research Council has identified the expanded use of prefabrication and
off-site fabrication as an important method for advancing the competitiveness
and productivity of the domestic construction industry over the next 20
years.
The U.S. off-site design and construction
industry has made significant advances in implementing processes and materials
to build and deliver more sophisticated and complex facility types by virtue of
system prefabrication, unitization, modularization and panelization. More and
more owners are turning to off-site methods for multi-story wood construction,
steel framed structures, healthcare facilities, educational structures and
large-scale military projects.
As an industry, however, owners, architects,
engineers and contractors up until now have lacked an unbiased source for
evaluating the applicability and potential benefits for use of such methods; for
determining where and when fabrication is appropriate; and for identifying the
range of choices inherent in integrating and collaborating with fabricators.
The Off-Site Construction Council will fill that
void by serving as a research, education and outreach center for relevant and
current information on off-site design and construction for commercial,
institutional and multifamily facilities.
The OSCC will:
- Provide a neutral
forum for off-site construction interest groups across the industry to share
information and solidify the expert base of the off-site industry sector; - Foster
partnerships and integration of owners, industry designers (architects and
engineers) and builders (fabricators and contractors) to increase the
productivity of the construction sector and promote knowledge sharing across the
building industry disciplines; - Establish a
mechanism for industry and academia to work through knowledge transfer
partnerships to advance off-site methods and practices by identifying gaps in
research; research and development to commercialization of off-site systems; and
promote, collect and disseminate findings and best practices in off-site
construction; and - Utilize the
partnerships identified above to achieve standards for off-site construction
sectors in connection with other Institute councils, promoting an integrated
approach to building science/technology delivery for the construction
sector.
In addition, the OSCC will address regulations
and standards; best practices; benefits/challenges; research; and dissemination
of information relating to off-site construction.
The goal of the Council is to work across all
building sectors and have a membership that is representative of the diverse
commercial, institutional and multifamily interests with a stake in off-site
construction.
The OSCC meeting is free and open to the public
but registration is required. To register to attend only the OSCC meeting,
select from tickets 5A through 5B. But don’t just come for the Council
meeting—plan to attend the whole Conference! Building Innovation
2014 has a number of educational symposia and meetings occurring during the
week.
Register before December 31,
2013, to avoid long lines and increased rates at registration. Register
now.