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Department of Civil Engineering, University of Kuwait, P.O. Box 5969, Safaf

13060, Kuwait

ABSTRACT

The present public housing projects in Kuwait cannot cope with the increasing demand for houses. The supply of governmental housing units can be increased by accelerating the construction process. One method of achieving the above target is by employing prefabricated building systems. In this paper, the current building systems used in public housing projects are reviewed and the past experience and problems with prefabricated systems are evaluated. The technical views on the possibility of using prefabricated building systems were ascertained through workshop interviews and questionnaires with experts from precast building companies, consulting offices, contractors, and government oficials. Modifications that recipients of public houses made on them were studied. Traditional and precast building systems were evaluated for an existing housing project and a comparison is made for determining the cost and project duration for each system. Final recommendations in addition to the impact of the use of precast building systems in public housing projects in Kuwait are presented.