Developing new METRICS for quantifying the amount of MMC used on a project (METRICS4MMC)
Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) offer crucial productivity and efficiency improvements to the construction industry. The Government, particularly Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH), is keen to support MMC, as evidenced by various initiatives and reports (MMC Leadership and Integration Group, Housing4all, Standardized Design Approach Study, Construct Innovate Standardize Project). Yet, MMC uptake in Ireland remains low and support and opportunity is needed to compete with traditional construction during procurement. One lever at government’s disposal is to specify benchmark MMC levels in tenders, a practice done in UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc. This supports the government’s commitment for 25% state-backed housing to be MMC but also provides a fair procurement approach for different MMC categories. This requires a clear Irish-specific metric enabling quantification of MMC in a project, which doesn’t exist. The UK’s Pre-Manufactured Value (PMV) is one such metric; however, research and stakeholder engagement reveal substantial limitations, particularly for site-led MMC, highlighting the need for alternatives. This project will develop Ireland-specific metric(s), through critical assessment of global metrics, stakeholder engagement, and case studies, to quantify off-site and on-site MMC, enabling unified measurements and fairer procurement. It will provide crucial knowledge and inform DHLGH policy supporting MMC uptake.
Lead RPO: UCD
Lead PI: Samar Raffoul, Dan McCrum
Industry Partners: ClearTech Engineered Solutions, Evolusion Innovation
Collaborators
Principal Investigator
Dr Daniel McCrum,
Associate Professor at University College Dublin
Dr Daniel McCrum is currently an Associate Professor in Structural Engineering and Director of the Modern Methods of Construction Research Group (MMCRG) (mmcrg.ucd.ie), University College Dublin. Daniel is a Co-PI in Construct Innovate. Within Construct Innovate, Daniel leads the pillar theme challenge on Productivity, Affordability & Cost, which relates directly to modern methods of construction.
Dr Samar Raffoul
Research Fellow, School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy, University College Dublin
Marie Curie Fellow at UCD. Passionate about modern methods of construction and the role they play in addressing global social and economic concerns with regards to the availability and affordability of adequate residential dwellings. Research interests include material development, constitutive modelling, modern methods of construction, structural robustness, composite design and the optimisation of structural systems for more sustainable construction.
I completed my BSc in Civil Engineering with distinction at the University of Balamand (2011), funded by the university merit scholarship, and my MSc in Structural Engineering with honours at the University of Manchester (2012). I then acquired my PhD at the University of Sheffield (2018), where I was involved in two large pan-European collaborative projects funded through FP7 and COST, respectively. In my PhD, I investigated the use of waste tyre components, in fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) confined concrete, to develop highly deformable structural elements with reduced environmental impact.
In 2018, I worked as a KTP research associate with a cold formed steel (CFS) frame manufacturer, in collaboration with Oxford Brookes University. My work involved developing refined design solutions for their modular frame design, with regards to performance and cost, whilst ensuring compliance with safety standards and building regulations. I then worked at an offsite construction design consultancy, based in Ireland, before acquiring funding to start my Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship at UCD in 2022. My Marie Curie research focuses on connection behaviour and robustness of modular methods of construction under accidental loading. My other main focus is to disseminate the knowledge and facilitate the robust design of such structures beyond the realm of specialist designers, leading to its higher uptake in the industry. At UCD, I am member of the Modern Methods of Construction Research Group (MMCRG; https://mmcrg.ucd.ie/) and the Centre for Critical Infrastructure Research (CCIR) at the School of Civil Engineering in UCD.
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