Modeling and simulation of public housing construction in Hong Kong

Hong Kong possesses one of the world's largest public housing stocks, which provides accommodation for 3.1 million people. To meet the growing need for public housing, the government has committed to produce 50,000 public flat units a year (plus 35,000 units from private developers) as its long-term housing policy. To meet this production target, contractors are faced with the challenge of further speeding up the construction process. Currently, it takes six days to construct one floor, and some contractors can achieve one floor in four days. Studies are being undertaken to explore the possibility of achieving one floor in two days. This paper focuses on the application of simulation techniques for modeling and simulating public housing construction in Hong Kong with the intention of working out the appropriate floor-cycle construction time and the necessary combination of resources.