dc.description.abstract | This thesis constitutes a study which focuses on the
relevance of timber prefabrication to housing production in
Kenya. Prefabrication is an imported technology from the
advanced countries and as such, a lot of emphasis has been
laid on current issues regarding choice of production
technology, technology transfer and measures of
appropriate technology specifically as regards the
construction industry in Kenya today. The core of the study
focuses on the determination of the appropriateness of
prefabrication of houses in Kenya using already developed
economic criteria and the assessment of the economic
impact of technology transfer in the construction industry
using timber prefabrication as a case study.
section comprises the introduct6ry chapter covering the
general introduction formalities of the study. This
chapter could be regarded as the backbone of the study
setting out the problem statement, the objectives of the
study, the study hypothesis, the scope and the significance
of the study and the study methodology. Chapter two centres
on the literature review especially as regardschoice of production
technique to the production process in general and in the
construction industry in particular. Chapters three and
four basically set out the historical develooment of
prefabrication first in other parts of the world and then
the discussion narrows down in chapter four to Kenya.
Chapter five could be regarded as the core of the study
dealing with data analysis and finally chapter six gives
the findings of the study, conclusions and recommendations.
To analyse timber prefabrication in Kenya, four
firms were taken as the case studies. These includes
Timsales, Economic Housing Group, GD Brothers and Forest
Industrial Training Centre. The four firms comprises
approximately 90% of the total prefab market in Kenya
making it a good sample for any generalisations to be done.
The data and information for these case studies were
collected between August 1987 - January 1988 mainly
through recorded information, interviews and field
observations.
The results from the four firms have tended to
have similar characteristics. Prefabrication in Kenya is
practised on a very small scale with.the main market
limitations being the small size of the domestic market
and the existing building regulations which prohibits
the use of inflamable materials in urban areas. As it is
currently, prefabrication may be regarded as an
appropriate technology as far as production of houses is
concerned. However, prefabrication on a large scale should
be undertaken with a lot of taution because the
prerequisites for large scale production are such that they
render prefabrication in Kenya inappropriate. The dividing
line is tricky and this requires a systematic approach to
technology transfer to ensure that any foreign technology
is carefully scrutinized to determine whether it is
appropriate or not. | en |