Urbanization is increasing across the globe. By 2045, an estimated six billion people will be living in cities, putting strain on critical infrastructure. As states across the GCC and beyond initiate ambitious projects to support growing populations, modular construction offers a fast and affordable way of completing infrastructure projects.

In rural areas, where often the main means of economic production is farming – reduced rainfall and frequent prolonged droughts are making agricultural development less viable. In search of employment opportunities, more and more people are moving to urban areas. In turn, this is placing additional stresses and strains on key infrastructure supporting these populations.

Across the GCC, these pressures are already having an impact. By 2050, nine in ten people in the region will be living in urban areas, surpassing the global average by 36%. To continue meeting the essential needs of people living in the GCC, developers across the region are undertaking major infrastructure projects. From entirely new cities to important infrastructure that can support these growing populations, developers are using modular construction to significantly reduce development time, labor costs, and environmental impact.

At Alfanar Projects, we believe that modular construction can help enable giga projects across the GCC, and we are already working closely with our partners in the region to explore further solutions for these ambitious projects.

Matching ambition to action

Facing a growing population and with ambitions to revolutionize its cities and infrastructure, Saudi Arabia has earmarked a number of giga projects designed to meet the changing needs of the Kingdom. As part of the Saudi Vision 2030, developments in existing cities will grow available housing stock, while simultaneously, entirely new cities and communities will be created.

Once completed, projects such as ROSHN, NEOM, Qiddiya, Diriyah Gate, New Murabba, and Amaala will house millions of people from across the Kingdom. While these new developments represent an innovative way of supporting growing populations, they face challenges as well.

Projects such as The Line are under construction in more remote regions of Saudi Arabia, where access is challenging and so is providing adequate housing for the workers.

Traditional methods of construction, such as on-site construction, represent a more labor-intensive way of completing projects. Using this method, materials are shipped to be constructed on-site. Projects can face weather and construction delays, and with shipping costs to these more remote locations often variable, on-site construction is simply too slow and too expensive for large-scale projects such as these.

Equally, finding the right accommodation for the tens of thousands of workers helping to build these projects is another challenge. As projects move through different construction phases, developers need to be able to quickly and affordably scale their accommodation facilities to support their workforce.

But whenever on-site construction is not a viable solution for giga projects in the GCC, modular construction methods may be the solution.

What are modular constructions?

Modular constructions are built in specially designed facilities before being transported to their destination for assembly and installation, offering a faster method of construction. So much so, that detailed research by McKinsey estimates that prefabricated constructions can fast-track projects between 20% and 50%.

Moreover, this method of building also offers a range of cost efficiencies. On-site construction relies on well-trained professionals to successfully assemble buildings, whereas off-site constructions can reduce staffing costs by as much as 50% thanks to only needing a smaller number of people for assembly.

The ongoing digitalization of construction and manufacturing offers various promises for the sector. Digital manufacturing technologies, such as digital twinning, 3D printing, augmented and virtual reality, machine learning, and LiDAR all promise even greater cost efficiencies once ready to roll-out at scale. This digitally enhanced process can reduce waste and cut the carbon emissions of the traditional production process by as much as 45%.

Is modular construction the future?

Modular construction isn’t new. It provided a rapid source of housing to displaced populations in the UK and US during the 1950s. Although having served as an immediate solution in the latter half of the 20^th century, prefabricated dwellings fell out of production.

However, interest in modular construction for projects and infrastructure completion is rising. Today, the modular construction market is particularly concentrated in Scandinavia and Asia but is also gaining in interest around the world. The global market for modular construction is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.3% between 2022 and 2030 – especially in developing countries with growing populations.

This makes it a particularly viable option in the GCC. In Saudi Arabia, modular construction is already an important method of project execution. In the Kingdom, the sector is expected to grow at a CAGR 8.53% between 2022 and 2027. A significant amount of this sectoral growth owes to the importance of modular construction in the broader completion of KSA’s major development projects.

Already, many of Saudi Arabia’s giga projects are using prefabricated buildings to fast-track their constructions. More than one third of all buildings in The Line city development will be through off-site, modular construction. And, at the site of the Qiddiya entertainment city project, modular buildings have already been installed.

At Alfanar Projects, we believe that modular construction offers a vital way of supporting giga project developments. In fact, we are already contributing to NEOM’s The Line project by building five villages – with a capacity for up to 10,000 residents per village – for the people working on the project. These villages will feature accommodation as well as entertainment facilities.

What are the challenges facing modular construction?

Despite the growing popularity of modular construction in the GCC, challenges remain for its widespread roll-out across the region. The global slowdown in raw material production has contributed to making the production costs of prefabricated materials more volatile.

While modular construction is an effective way to provide good quality accommodation for large workforces in remote locations, often the costs of transporting large modular constructions are high. These modules need to be transported over large distances, without incurring damage that could negatively affect their construction. Should beams, poles, and other materials be damaged, prefabricated houses run the risk of improper assembly.

Scaling construction for the future

As countries rise to the challenge of growing populations and urbanization, important infrastructure projects are underway to support these growing communities. And, where giga projects require vast labor forces working on them, modular construction also offers an attractive way of housing them.