Construction industry offsite production: A virtual reality interactive training environment prototype Jack Goulding a , Wafaa Nadim b,⇑ , Panagiotis Petridis c , Mustafa Alshawi d a School of Built and Natural Environment, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), UK b Department of Architecture, The British University in Egypt (BUE), Egypt c Serious Games Institute, Coventry University, UK d College of Science & Technology, University of Salford, UK article info Article history: Received 8 October 2010 Received in revised form 19 September 2011 Accepted 25 September 2011 Available online 17 November 2011 Keywords: Construction industry Game engines Offsite production Training Virtual environment Simulation abstract The ‘traditional’ construction industry has constantly been challenged to improve its inherent problem- atic practices. Offsite production (OSP), under the umbrella of modern methods of construction (MMC), has been acknowledged as a means to help improve construction industry performance as well as meet new market demands through the provision of improved, adaptable, and sustainable buildings. However, the deployment of OSP systems, if not managed properly, may adversely affect the end result and be counterproductive. It is therefore imperative that the construction industry stakeholders learn and appre- ciate the specifics, merits, as well as the risks associated with OSP systems in order to achieve the desired outcomes and consequently improve industry performance. On-the-job-training (OJT) is usually sought to facilitate ‘experiential’ learning, which is argued to be particularly effective where a great deal of independence is granted to the task performer. However, OJT has been criticised for being expensive, limited, and sometimes devoid of the actual training context. In order to address the problems encountered with OJT, several virtual reality (VR) solutions have been proposed. This paper introduces one such VR solution prototype, in order to provide a risk-free environ- ment for learning without the ‘do-or-die’ consequences often faced on real construction projects. The proffered solution provides a unique VR environment for practicing new working conditions associated with OSP practices. While the ‘scenes’ of the VR environment take place on a construction site, the envi- ronment predominantly targets professionals, such as project managers, construction managers, archi- tects, designers, suppliers and manufacturers, to allow multidisciplinary learning to occur, and hence overcome ‘knowledge silos’ or ‘knowledge compartmentation’. The VR environment enables unforeseen problems often caused by professionals’ decisions, faulty work, and health and safety issues to occur; where the implications of which can be evaluated in respect of time, cost and resources. The VR environ- ment proposed does not aim to resolve problems associated with OSP per se, rather aims to allow ‘things to go wrong’ and consequently allows users not only to ‘experience’ the resulting implications but also to reflect on those implications as part of the learning process. This paper discusses and presents the pro- totype for the first development phase of the VR interactive training environment. While the prototype was tested and validated with domain experts from industry, the research community, and academia from different EU countries, the data used in developing the prototype was constrained to one project in the UK which may limit the generalisability of results. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The European Union (EU) construction sector is one of the larg- est industrial employers, encompassing more than 2.4 million enterprises, with approximately 14 million employees. Hence, represents a significant importance to the EU, with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contribution of 9.9%, and an overall employment rate of 7% of the European workforce [1]. However, the EU construction industry is constantly facing several challenges, not least, regarding its poor performance compared to other sectors/industries. Often, it is argued that construction firms pass up opportunities in new markets due to the lack of relevant skills; which has been attributed to, among others, the reduced attractiveness of construction activities [2]. Furthermore, the con- struction industry tends to lag behind other industries in terms of 1474-0346/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.aei.2011.09.004 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +20 2 2689 0000; fax: +20 2 2687 5889. E-mail addresses: jsgoulding@uclan.ac.uk (J. Goulding), Wafaa.nadim@bue. edu.eg (W. Nadim), PPetridis@cad.coventry.ac.uk (P. Petridis), m.a.alshawi@salford. ac.uk (M. Alshawi). Advanced Engineering Informatics 26 (2012) 103–116 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Advanced Engineering Informatics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/aei