Sustainable building construction through modular systems: insights from real-world case studies and a proposed framework

Abstract

Modular construction (MC) involves constructing facilities using prefabricated modules manufactured offsite and assembled onsite. This construction method offers several advantages, including faster completion, enhanced safety, improved quality, and increased sustainability. Current reviews on MC largely emphasize technological or conceptual aspects, with comparatively limited synthesis of evidence derived from real-world project applications and associated implementation constraints. By systematically synthesizing case-based evidence across global building projects, this review identifies contemporary MC methods, evaluates their method-specific limitations, and develops a context-driven framework to support informed MC method selection and adoption. The key aspects of this review include bibliometric and qualitative analyses, which are used to analyze the literature published between 2000 and 2025. Bibliometric analysis is conducted to develop scientific mappings and highlight trends in publication frequency, countries, keywords, leading authors, and top-cited journals. The United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, and China lead the literature on MC methods for low-, mid-, and high-rise buildings. A qualitative discussion evaluates the global application of contemporary MC practice extracted from real-world case studies, highlighting its innovations and limitations in the building industry. A conceptual framework based on the literature is developed, outlining several factors that influence the selection and adoption of a particular MC method. It highlights the influence of the geographic region, construction type, design requirements, site conditions, and technological integration on the selection of MC method. The novelty of this study lies in its evidence-driven synthesis of MC methods based on real-world case studies, moving beyond the predominantly conceptual and technology-focused perspectives of prior reviews. Future research should move beyond conceptual discussions and focus on case studies that document how organizations manage design, manufacturing, and assembly in MC.