The Big Interview

Evidence-based approach to building performance

As a company Baxall has spent a lot of time and effort to understand precisely what its impact is on the environment. Areas of focus have included transport, vehicle emissions and on-site operations. This has now developed into both embodied carbon and carbon in use.

Malcolm Clarke, MD Baxall

Our view is that the design and build contractor should be there to help the occupier and ensure they are using the building effectively and efficiently. Ideally, we won’t take on a project unless we are involved at the earliest stage and are able to still play a role once the building has been handed to the end user

Malcolm stresses it is just as important to ensure the buildings that it constructs are carbon zero in operation and we reduce embedded carbon in the design. He believes progress is being made but also warns that there are still issues within the industry in relation to waste and inefficient design in construction. Too often, he explains, a property is built but there is little or no follow up from the contractor and hence no feedback from the user on how the building and the people that use it are performing.

Delivering what the client needs

“Our view is that the design and build contractor should be there to help the occupier and ensure they are using the building effectively and efficiently. The ‘soft landings initiative’ has part way addressed this but there is more to be done. Ideally, we won’t take on a project unless we are involved at the earliest stage and are able to still play a role once the building has been handed to the end user. We are then able to offer continuous support and receive essential feedback, including performance data so we can continuously improve both design and construction”.

Baxall have a number of clients that they are now partnering with to provide a whole life solution to their built environment.

The key point, Malcolm explains, is that the industry needs to take collective responsibility rather than pushing the risk to the lowest common denominator who are invariably ill equipped to deal with.

He believes the onus should be on those that have constructed a building to measure how well it performs. “We need to collect data, not just on the performance of the building, but the performance, health and wellbeing of those living or working within it”

As a company we’ve spent a lot of time and effort to understand precisely what our impact is on the environment. Areas of focus have included transport, vehicle emissions and on-site operations. This has now developed into both embodied carbon and carbon in use.

Last year Baxall successfully secured government funding for a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Project.

Working alongside academics from the University of Kent, Baxall are developing an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-framework using data related to the construction process, and ‘smart monitoring’ sensors to assess the operation of buildings alongside occupancy performance data.

Ultimately, it will assess the performance of the people within a particular building. Taking for example, a school: has pupil absenteeism decreased, have exam results improved and have staff retention levels increased?

By helping to make intelligent decisions on the construction

process, materials and design, Baxall can then provide clients with evidence that the building and people in it are performing to their optimum.

For the retrofit market, Baxall is able to offer consultancy services using its ‘smart monitoring’ to evaluate buildings and use the data to offer evidence-based solutions to address existing problems.

This knowledge all links back into understanding the industry’s impact on the environment and how it can use rich data to continuously improve and refine the brief, while driving the zero-carbon agenda.

The next generation

Using AI to measure building performance and efficiency is just one way Baxall is able to evolve and improve as a company. Another major commitment is Baxall’s continued focus on education, specifically its Academy.

Set up in 2016, the Baxall Academy provides an opportunity for all through apprenticeships, a management training scheme and ongoing continuing professional development.

Baxall works with apprentice organisations, local colleges and its supply chain partners to deliver an annual commitment of learning opportunities across all trades.

In addition, its new management trainees are sponsored to study part-time while undertaking a programme of eight -week departmental work experience, personal mentoring and regular reviews.

Malcolm appreciates that recruitment into construction remains a significant challenge but is optimistic that over time this will change and diversification will improve across the industry.

“There is a wealth of talent out there that has not been directed towards us. Have students at school been told that construction is even an option?

Thinking outside the box and realising the broad range of skill sets required in the sector, is an important starting point. As Malcolm explains, one graduate who joined Baxall recently initially wanted to be a site manager but it became evident to her and the company that she was better suited to design management.

A major positive is that the calibre of people coming through and beginning their career in the industry are of a high standard and this bodes well for a sector that continues to innovate and improve.

“Our successors need to be top rate to take us forward. I genuinely think the sector is an exciting place to be right now and there are so many great career opportunities,” Malcolm enthuses. “We took someone on recently who studied Waste in construction and net zero – and got a first-class degree. How great an asset is that for our business?”