ITcon Vol. 26, pg. 657-680, http://www.itcon.org/2021/35

Defining work-zones for resource allocation in Hong Kong public housing project construction using heuristic rules and operations simulation

DOI:10.36680/j.itcon.2021.035
submitted:July 2021
revised:August 2021
published:September 2021
editor(s):Francis Siu, Hung-Lin Chi, Hsi-hsien Wei & Minkoo Kim
authors:Zilu Lin, Ms., MPhil Student,
Department of Building and Real Estate, Faculty of Construction and Environment,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
zi-lu.lin@connect.polyu.hk

Francis Siu, Dr.,
Assistant Professor, Corresponding Author,
Department of Building and Real Estate, Faculty of Construction and Environment,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
francis.siu@polyu.edu.hk

Daniel Chan, Dr.,
Associate Professor,
Department of Building and Real Estate, Faculty of Construction and Environment,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
daniel.w.m.chan@polyu.edu.hk

Daniel Lau, Mr., Director,
Able Engineering Company Limited
daniellau@ableeng.com.hk
summary:In Hong Kong, 6-day construction cycle always being used for constructing one typical floor of concrete building superstructure in a week. Work-zones are defined in the working platform for better allocation of limited resources. Once the work-zones are defined, the resources (labour, plant, materials) will be allocated to a specific zone to deliver the works on a particular day of the 6-day construction cycle. In practice, the definition of work-zone is dependent on the experience of project manager. Yet, there is no past research studied the evaluation of work-zone definition schemes. As such, in this research study, three heuristic rules are proposed for choosing better scheme of work-zone. The heuristic rules are based on (i) lengths of work-zone dividing line, (ii) fluctuations of daily duration, and (iii) utilisation rates of resource. To illustrate the steps of evaluating the scheme, an illustrative example is given. To illustrate the method application of the rules, a practical case study of constructing a 40-storey housing is given. The proposed rules were verified based on sensitivity analysis and expert validation. Conclusions are drawn by expressing the contributions and limitations of the proposed rules, followed by suggesting future research works.
keywords:work zone, 6-day cycle, simulation, work content, productivity
full text: (PDF file, 0.799 MB)
citation:Lin Z, Siu F, Chan D, Lau D (2021). Defining work-zones for resource allocation in Hong Kong public housing project construction using heuristic rules and operations simulation, ITcon Vol. 26, Special issue CIB World Building Congress 2019: Information technology of smart city development, pg. 657-680, https://doi.org/10.36680/j.itcon.2021.035
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