Image: Dreamstime/Nils Ackermann
Some of construction’s biggest players including Skanska, BAM, Kier, Vinci, Mace and Mott MacDonald are working towards building new schools and hospitals from a ‘kit of parts’ within 10 years.
The Construction Innovation Hub named the firms as those that would take forward its flagship Platform Design programme.
A central plank of the Hub’s four-year government-backed programme to transform UK construction, Platforms will enable new buildings to be designed and configured using a pre-defined ‘kit of parts’.
A platform design approach is proven to demonstrate greater whole-life value, lower carbon and energy use, better safety and quality, the Construction Innovation Hub claimed.
The construction businesses will be supported through the programme by manufacturing, building performance and digital specialists from the three partners of the Hub – the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), BRE and the Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB).
The Platform participants will develop and refine their products, technologies or services which will then be installed and showcased on a proof-of-concept building, demonstrating how these solutions can be applied across a wide range of UK government projects for vital new buildings like schools, hospitals and prisons.
Proof of concept
The wider collaborative team for the Hub’s Platform Design programme comprises over 40 businesses drawn from a range of disciplines, and includes a number of specialist SMEs, which will work alongside the Hub and the integrators, providing design, specialist consultancy services, sub-assembly, components and materials that will be showcased on the proof of concept building.
Speaking at Futurebuild2020, Construction Innovation Hub programme director, Keith Waller said: “Our flagship Platform Design programme is a game-changer for construction.
“With the right blend of expertise and collaboration across Government and industry, we could see a critical mass of new built projects like schools and hospitals constructed using the Platform approach in as little as ten years, driving improved productivity and performance for the sector and better outcomes for the environment and society.
“The innovative businesses joining us on our journey are the vanguard of transformative change, not just in terms of how we create buildings, but in how those buildings impact on our lives and the environment”.
MMC programme director at the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA), Will Varah said: “There is a strong alignment between the IPA’s P-DfMA approach and the Hub’s Platform programme.
“We look forward to working together to deliver a more sustainable and productive way to meeting our ambitious investment programme”.
