Relationship between labour productivity and curved wall construction in high-rise building projects

Construction labour productivity has been declining. This paper examines the learning effect of labour productivity in a curved wall operation using the application of the Learning Curve Theory (LCT). The research adopted a quantitative approach, utilising a standard observation sheet to record labour productive time on a live project. The study investigated a 15-storey office building project in Nigeria. Data were analysed using regression analysis and straight-line learning model. The result of the effect of learning on curved wall operations shows a significant influence on improvement in labour productivity. The labour productivity observed reveals average learning rate of 93.76%, resulting in an improvement rate of 6.24% in labour productivity. This impact can decrease the duration of the project at a rate of 1% - 6%. A learning rate of less than 100% indicates that learning has occurred and is verified by the LCT. The research contributes to development of a model for investigating labour productivity curved wall operations with the application of LCT. The model developed in this research can help the construction industry, project managers and planners to view the rate of labour productivity in a learning curve diagram. This study was limited to a single site multi-storey building due to the deductive method of the research. The implication is that the study result may lack generalisability. It is suggested that this investigation is replicated with other models, i.e. piecewise unit model, exponential model and cubic unit model of learning.