The Advanced Building Construction (ABC) Collaborative is a network of building construction, real estate, and development stakeholders that is accelerating the uptake of innovative, high-performance construction technologies that achieve superior energy and carbon performance, enable rapid on-site construction timelines, are affordable to building owners and developers, and are desirable to building owners and users.

Industrialized construction refers to the practice of constructing all or part of a building at a site other than the building’s ultimate, permanent location. The initial (off-site) work location can provide a controlled environment.

Prefab (i.e., prefabrication or prefabricated) refers to the practice of fabricating an assembly of parts and materials that will be installed as a package in the final building or at the final site. Modular construction refers to the practice of constructing standardized units in a manufacturing-environment (often full or partial volumes) that fit together to form the bulk of a building.

All of these fit into the broader category of “industrialized construction,” which uses modern manufacturing techniques, controlled environments, and digital tools to increase labor productivity, quality, and consistency and reduce risk in construction. The Collaborative considers industrialized construction to be a key strategy in driving ABC.