Factors Influencing Modern Timber Structure Building Development in China

• Main Authors: Qiang Du, Runnan Zhang, Changlu Cai, Liangwei Jin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-07-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: modern timber structure; influencing factor; stakeholder; social network analysis
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7936

In China, modern timber structure (MTS) has great market potential as an advanced architectural technology and corresponds to the direction of construction industrialization. However, the MTS building sector is still developing slowly, despite previous efforts by the Chinese government to promote its development. The development of the MTS building industry involves numerous stakeholders, and the complex relationships and behaviors of stakeholders are regarded as the reason for slow development. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the influencing factors related to MTS building from the stakeholders’ perspectives. The social network analysis (SNA) method was used to explore the key factors affecting MTS building development and analyze the interactions of influencing factors. Nine stakeholders were identified, and 23 influencing factors associated with these stakeholders were determined based on a literature review, questionnaire survey and interviews with specialists. The critical factors were government policy, the public’s understanding and acceptance, market positioning and development cost. In addition, the relationships of designer, prefabricated component manufacturer, and construction enterprise were very close. Based on the findings, corresponding countermeasures were put forward, including policy incentives and support expansion, technical specification system improvements, public awareness reinforcement, and the strengthening of personnel training, etc. This paper contributes to the developmental improvement of the MTS building sector in China.