437 DEMONSTRATING HYBRID CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION PERFORMANCE THROUGH VIRTUAL SIMULATION - A CASE STUDY APPROACH D. Oloke, O. Olomolaiye, D. Proverbs School of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Wolverhampton, Wulfruna Street, WV1 1SB, Wolverhampton, UK Corresponding Author: d.a.oloke@wlv.ac.uk ABSTRACT: The construction industry continues to face the challenge of meeting up with performance targets such as time and cost based on clients’ requirements. Hybrid concrete construction (i.e. the combination of precast and in-situ concrete and other materials) offers the construction industry stakeholders a wide range of benefits. Depending on the appropriate selection of structural materials, the method enshrines an efficient cost and time saving regime in the implementation of construction projects. However, the need to assess these performance benefits prior to (and as a basis for planning) the construction phase of the project is paramount. A methodology of demonstrating performance through the virtual simulation of the key performance indicators of time and cost as a basis for adopting hybrid construction is hereby presented. A typical steel-frame construction project was used as a case study in which the salient aspects of the design, programme/ construction method and progress were captured on–site. Data collated were used to simulate the development in real-time using the prototype of the VR model virtual reality model. Future work entails the generation of alternative hybrid construction schemes and comparing the performance of these against the steel frame alternative. Keywords: Hybrid concrete, performance, virtual simulation, case study 1. INTRODUCTION Time, budget and quality restraints continue to trouble the construction industry in recent years. To this effect, many concepts have been proposed to increase the level of performance management (Savicky et al., 2003). The concept of hybrid concrete construction (HCC) – i.e. the combination of insitu concrete with precast concrete, steel work or other materials - emerged recently as a means of enhancing performance (Mert, 2001). Hence, the term ‘hybrid concrete structures’ are derived from structures developed based on a hybrid concrete construction methodology. HCC provides simple, buildable and competitive high-quality structures that offer consistent performance (Goodchild, 2001). Three distinct categories of the forms of HCC are: precast and insitu concrete; concrete and steel work; and concrete and other materials (Xia, 2000). The choice of specific combinations depends on several factors such as type of structure, desired speed and flexibility of construction to name but a few. The use of HCC has been considered advantageous to the building construction process over the years. The procedure had previously proved advantageous over traditional insitu concrete construction - with enhancements to speed and quality being the most important advantages (Lee et al, 1997). HCC offers its clients the flexibility of choice of elements that may be precast or insitu. Building elements such as floors; beams; columns; walls and cladding; and other units can be incorporated as insitu or precast in any combination that allows optimal construction performance (Glass and Baiche, 2001; Mert, 2001).