THE VOICE OF THE UK OFFSITE INDUSTRY
THE LOGIC OF OFFSITE MANUFACTURING Buildoffsite members launch bespoke construction apprenticeship for offsite sector
Value Engineering in Offsite and Modular construction
Buildoffsite’s Rail Hub publishes Linear Infrastructure Overbuild Guide
JANUARY
CONTENTS
The Logic of Offsite Manufacturing
Berkeley Group explains the differences between offsite manufacturing and offsite construction
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Value Engineering in Offsite and Modular Construction 06 Lucideon provides an insight into VE
Member News Tide Construction installs last module on world’s tallest modular tower 08 TDS Midlands front-end approach is a game changer for the construction industry 10 Buildoffsite members launch bespoke digital construction apprenticeship for offsite sector 14 Pushing the boundaries of offsite construction for emergency care 18 Kier embraces DfMA and digital at the £253m new build Wellingborough prison 24 The growing focus on BIM model health at Hawkins\Brown 26 Fabien Crochetet appointed as UK Regional Sales Manager at Cobuilder 30
Member 2019 Highlights
NG Bailey celebrates a successful 2019 32 Kier published The Choice Factory, was named ‘Offsite Pioneer of the Year’ and more 34 Solibri awarded Best BIM Project at The Construction Computing Awards 35
Meet our New Members
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Buildoffsite News
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Upcoming Events
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Buildoffsite’s Rail Hub publishes Linear Infrastructure Overbuild Guide How could you build a quarter of a million homes for London? The Buildoffsite Linear Infrastructure Overbuild Guide is ready to help.
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TDS Midlands Front-End Approach - a Game Changer for the Construction Industry
Midlands-Based Design and Detailing Company, TDS, discuss the value of collaboration and digital modelling at the front end of the design process.
BIM Model Audit Report Project Name Project Number: 00000 Date: 30/10/2019 Workstage: Ref: DocumentRef
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The logic of offsite manufacturing
Significant differences exist between the sectors, typically manifested in terms of culture: operating philosophy; productivity; return on investment; employment and talent development rationale; and so forth.
Joe Dyde, Business Manager Welcome to the January 2020 edition of the Buildoffsite e-magazine. I hope you all had a wonderful festive break, and would like to take this opportunity to wish you a healthy and prosperous New Year. Within this edition there is a focus on some of the successful, innovative projects our members delivered in 2019 – and how some of the new approaches industry is taking will help support and grow our sector as we enter a new decade. The range of projects and case studies covered; across residential, infrastructure, healthcare, justice, utilities and beyond – only begins to highlight how the diversity of offsite solutions is supporting industry and clients. Following our 2019 activity; growth in number of members, two new hubs launched, our largest number of events, our collaborative work on publications, research and developments with other key industry stakeholders; I am excited at what 2020 holds and the plans we have.
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The growing focus on BIM model health at Hawkins\Brown The Specialist Design Studio have been working to develop a series of tools that totally change the way in which we both see and respond to the health of their Revit Models. BIM Model Audit Report \ DocumentRef \ ddYYMM
Over the coming weeks, we will be consulting with members on our sector hub structure and priorities; and how we can ensure that all members are provided with a voice to shape and input how this operates moving forward. This will be the first of a number of forums and discussions undertaken with members to form our new governance processes. Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming communications and more detail on the above, and more, in the near future.
THE LOGIC OF OFFSITE MANUFACTURING
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Article
E
ven at the most basic level, the manufacturing sector bears little resemblance to the construction sector. Significant differences exist between the sectors, typically manifested in terms of culture: operating philosophy; productivity; return on investment; employment and talent development rationale; and so forth. For some reason though, when ‘offsite’ is the prefix to manufacturing or construction, people often consider the resulting terms to mean the same thing. However, they do not – in fact, they imply very different things. This confusion regarding the terms offsite manufacturing and offsite construction suggests it is worth attempting to differentiate between the two. Consider, for the strict purpose of being able to draw a transparent comparison, the concept of ‘lean’ might prove a useful vehicle because it chimes directly with the notion of sustainable business. In itself, ‘lean’ can be interpreted in multiple ways, but here we can assume it implies the elimination of unnecessary waste and so provides a basis for measurement. This should facilitate demarcation between the notions of offsite manufacturing and offsite construction. The intent is not to
necessarily prove that one of these approaches represents a better business model than the other, since both have merit depending on corporate fit / maturity rather to provide a comparison in terms of lean performance.
For further information please visit: www.berkeleygroup.co.uk Article
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VALUE ENGINEERING IN OFFSITE AND MODULAR CONSTRUCTION Value engineering (VE) or value analysis is a project management technique that seeks the best functional balance between cost, reliability and performance of a product, project, process or service. It is an organised approach to the identification and elimination of unnecessary costs. Since there is usually a limit placed on time and budget, there is a high probability that most designs will contain some difficult costs to eliminate without further examination and early investigation. VE brings most benefits when considered at the planning stage of a new project or design. If VE is considered in later stages of a project, it is likely to have a more limited impact as the costs associated with reversing decisions may be greater than the savings it would bring. As new construction projects involve many different materials, trades, processes, stages and stakeholders, it is important to consider VE. VE does not necessarily just involve a reduction in costs, but also has the benefits of improved build speed, reduced environmental impact and overall building efficiency. VE should be incorporated in many aspects of the build, including consideration of the availability of materials, different construction methods, transportation issues, site limitations or restrictions, planning and organisation, as well as
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labour and skills availability. Within offsite and modular construction, there is a higher probability of both over designing or under designing a building due to the lack of standards and use of composite build. This includes the demands of transporting the module or system which may require additional materials to ensure the module does not deteriorate when moved. The variation of materials used in manufacturing the system can also have unknown characteristics or characteristics which may change when used in composite construction. The structural frame of a modular or panel system can be designed by Eurocode, e.g. Eurocode 3 for light gauge steel frame or Eurocode 5 for timber, but invariably, design to Eurocodes will be conservative and lead to costlier material sections and gauges. Eurocodes allow design by testing which generally provides a more cost effective build with savings in the production easily off-setting test costs.
For modern methods of construction (MMC), VE can be used at the following stages: • • • • •
Initial concept Design Material selection Transportability studies Construction
If designing to Eurocodes, it is prescriptive to use certain size sections of steelwork to resist the structural loads, and Eurocodes often give conservative values for structural loadings. In offsite construction, there are no standard connection details and connection design is not generally covered by the Eurocodes. Ensuring the connections are correct can save money on materials and time. Even small components can have an impact on cost with modular and panel construction; some materials and fixings are used for the short periods of time during transportation and are redundant once the building is in use. If these can be minimised or removed when in-situ, this can also provide cost savings.
Material selection needs to consider availability, ease of use, service life, sustainability and waste. The selection needs to take account of quantities, how they are dealt with, and if they can be recycled or reused. VE is important when selecting materials with database information, and knowledge of material performance and characteristics is a key factor in cost and performance.
Similar to the transportation stage, the construction stage is only a few hours of the buildings life where it needs to be adequately rigid for the process compared to its 60-year static life. At the construction stage, VE can be used to ensure the construction process is efficient by assessing the compatibility of materials, fixings and fixing methods and processes; do you hand screw, nail by hand, nail gun or even weld?
In all, VE should be a process used at all stages of offsite and modular production and hand over, to ensure a robust and economic design.
Transportability is one of the main areas where VE can be most effective. There is a need for a compromise between the module being overdesigned for its 60-year design life and the few hours that it will be transported, compared to the 60 years where it will be stationary in-situ.
For further information please visit: www.lucideon.com
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TIDE CONSTRUCTION INSTALLS LAST MODULE ON WORLD’S TALLEST MODULAR TOWER
Last module arrives to complete world’s tallest modular residential building in south London. •
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UK-based developer installs final module in 44-storey tower, only 35 weeks after first module was installed Scheme delivering 546 rental apartments Delivered in half the time of a traditional skyscraper, thanks to efficiencies of manufacturing homes in a factory. Croydon has given birth to world famous models, musicians and artists including Kate Moss, Stormzy and Tracey Emin respectively. Now, it is home to one of the world’s greatest feats of engineering as the tallest modular building on the planet nears completion in south London.
Developer Tide Construction, which is developing the project on behalf of Henderson Park and Greystar, last week craned into place the last of 1,526 modules which have been assembled on site in Croydon to create two towers measuring 44-storeys and 38-storeys. The 136m scheme – equivalent to the London Eye – will house 546 ‘Build to Rent’ homes that will be managed by Greystar. By manufacturing the buildings inside a controlled factory environment, together Tide and Vision Modular Systems, Tide’s offsite manufacturing company, will 8
Member News
complete the project in just over two years – half the time it would have taken using traditional methods of construction.
Some of the main benefits of modular housing include: •
Vision Modular Systems’ factory, in Bedford, just outside of London, manufactures apartments on a production line, assembling fully completed modules, similar to how cars are created. The modules are fully completed internally – including kitchens and bathrooms – and are then transported to site. All of the apartments that roll off the production line are fully certified and accredited, backed by the UK’s leading certification bodies, to ensure that every home is fundable, mortgageable and insurable. Britain’s success of building homes in factories will be welcomed as the country looks to establish its credentials as a world-leader in engineering and manufacturing. And it comes a couple of weeks after housing minister Esther McVey told MIPIM UK, a property conference, that Britain needed to “become the world leader in modular housing within the next 10 years.” Tide, however, believes that the UK should already be proud of its accolade as the global leader in modular housing as it is now home to three of the world’s tallest modular buildings.
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Speed – homes can be completed in half the time and arrive on site 95 per cent complete with pre-installed kitchen, bathrooms, plumbing and wiring. Following the installation of modules, it took fifty workers just a week on each of the towers’ levels to complete finishing touches such as floor fitting and painting. Sustainability – homes built in factories are twice as energy efficient as the average UK home because the factory environment means modules are more airtight than homes built traditionally. Digital technology allows precise estimations for materials, cutting waste by 80 per cent, with 80 per cent less traffic movements to the site, resulting in carbonemissions savings of approximately 50 per cent compared to traditional construction. Skills – production lines enable companies to take apprentices and train them on specific tasks with high levels of quality. Modular manufacturers tap into different types of skills allowing different trades to seamlessly work together.
“While we’re proud to have delivered the world’s tallest modular tower, this isn’t about breaking records, but finding innovative ways to build better, sustainable homes, more quickly. There is a critical window for the planning system to encourage more factory-built homes. Using a production line can offer far greater certainty around quality and cost. What we, as developers, need is far greater certainty from the planning system itself – ideally with a presumption in favour of consent where a scheme meets the main demands around size and use.” John Fleming, Chairman of Tide Construction and Vision Modular Systems Member News
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TDS MIDLANDS FRONTEND APPROACH IS A GAME CHANGER FOR THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY, FOLLOWING CONTRACT WIN WITH HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY
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Member News
Midlands-Based Design and Detailing Company, TDS, discuss the value of collaboration and digital modelling at the front end of the design process. Explaining further how, if adopted, this approach could benefit the Construction Industry as a whole. This comes after securing a $5m project deal directly with the Hong Kong International Airport Authority (HKIAA). Part of TDS’ brief was to challenge the design from a manufacturing perspective, working collaboratively alongside the Tier 1 consulting team including Aecom and Aedas. Importantly, this has enabled them to scrutinise the design through a steel fabricators eyes, which has meant they have been able to develop the model with the best manufacturing and installation solution in mind. Having a fully connected, geometry checked, LOD400 model completed will enable the Airport Authority to have complete confidence that the costs provided by its steelwork contractors (when appointed) will be accurate and to a fixed scope with no risk of design creep or additional variations to the contract. For the same reasons this synchronously provides confidence from a project management point of view, as issues picked up at the back end of a project tend to result in delays to the installation programme, but if they are addressed at the front end, before the construction programme is compiled, then the Airport Authority have further confidence that their anticipated timeline will experience minimal delays, which is of huge significance on infrastructure projects. Due to the quality assurance processes in place throughout their delivery, including federated model checks and co-ordination, the risk of errors has also been drastically reduced. Daniel Leech, CEO of the TDS Group and a UK leader for digital innovation commented: “We are hoping that other clients, main contractors and Tier 1 consultants
can start to see the value in early engagement and collaboration. The main hurdle as we see it sits with procurement. At the moment the risk is sold down the supply chain and it is the responsibility of the manufacturing businesses to complete the design and detailing process as well as the manufacture and installation of the steelwork.”
It is impossible to give an accurate fixed cost for something when the scope is variable. This is leaving the steelwork contractors massively exposed commercially. It is fair to say that drawings have become a necessary evil for manufacturing businesses and this mentality has to stop.”
Member News
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Through early engagement, TDS have now demonstrated they can develop the design to a manufacture level of detail (DFMA). Enabling the steelwork contractor to provide costs and estimates to finite information, minimising the risk of contractual conflict, reducing the strain on the project programme and nullifying the chances of design creep. Simon Chatwin was the project lead for TDS and commented “For too long Value Engineering has mainly resulted in a ‘making it cheaper’. Value engineering should be about having a co-ordinated approach which ensures that all contractors and disciplines have a shared vision, effort and responsibility to collaborate and ensure the client gets the best possible solution. This then creates true value for the end user / client”.
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CLIENT BENEFITS: •
Designed for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) he model for HKIAA has been created in Tekla Structures which is a specialist steelwork detailing software used T by a huge proportion of the steelwork industry globally. This has meant that the design and data contained within the model is at a manufacturing level of detail.
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Digital asset created for supply chain price certainty From the digital asset TDS can run GA’s, fabrication drawings and NC data files for automated manufacture and phased installation.
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Minimalised extra work orders and contract variations
As the design is complete prior to the appointment of the steelwork contractor there is minimal chance of contract variations and design fee creep. •
Reduced risk of contractual conflict Because the information supplied is complete there is far less ambiguity and risk of contractual conflict.
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Improved speed efficiency and accuracy As the information was provided through IFC, TDS were able to work with Tier 1 consultant Aecom, on the development of parametric modeling solutions enabling them to speed up the modelling process. Working with a system called Trimble Connect to co-ordinate the model meaning all RFIs and TQ’s were done digitally creating a true paperless workflow.
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Increased potential for Offsite Manufacture i The steelwork contractor is now digitally enabled to investigate whether assemblies and sub-assemblies can be produced off site reducing the installation time and improving the health and safety on site.
Member News
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BUILDOFFSITE MEMBERS LAUNCH BESPOKE DIGITAL CONSTRUCTION APPRENTICESHIP FOR OFFSITE SECTOR A consortium of training providers, FE colleges and employers has been formed to develop a bespoke digital construction apprenticeship for offsite. Buildoffsite Members, Berkeley Modular Ltd and Cadcoe (The Construction and Design Centre of Excellence) are at the forefront of development for the new training programme, which has been created to coincide with the opening of the
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Berkeley Modular manufacturing facility for volumetric modular housing, in Kent. Graham Cleland, Managing Director for Berkeley Modular, has been the driving force behind the new apprenticeship. Towards the end of 2018 he began to look for a solution to attract, train and retain longterm, exceptional talent to the new business. The result was 10 new Design Apprenticeship positions,
with a bespoke digital construction training package.
A TOTALLY NEW APPROACH TO TRAINING APRRENTICES Graham Cleland, made the move to create a working partnership between a combination of FE colleges and training providers to ensure the 10 apprentices receive precision training tailored to the exact requirements of the role they will be carrying out. The 4-way partnership consists of Berkeley Modular Ltd, North Kent College, Dudley College of Technology and Cadcoe. Candidates will initially complete an intensive training programme in digital construction and design via Cadcoe and Dudley College, followed by a broad programme of further development in Digital Engineering delivered by North Kent College. Apprentices will be resident at Dudley for the initial specialist training running over a total of 4 months before returning to Berkeley Modular Ltd to complete the broader programme including day release at North Kent College which runs for a further 26 months.
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EMPLOYING APPRENTICES KEY TO FUTURE BUSINESS SUCCESS The successful apprentices joining who joined the programme in Sep-19 will beare permanent, direct employees of Berkeley Modular Ltd and will receive an attractive remuneration package, continued professional career development opportunities and the chance to work on some of the most technologically advanced projects within offsite. The full package is part of Cleland’s vision to transform perceptions of what a career within construction means whilst attracting the most promising digital talent to the industry:
As a new business, employing apprentices is key to our future success. It is of utmost importance that those apprentices understand their value and the role they have to play in placing Berkeley Modular at the forefront of offsite progress and innovation. Through working closely with our training partners, we have successfully recruited a group of highachievers with exceptional digital skills.� Graham Cleland, Director of Berkeley Modular
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The new apprentices are from a range of backgrounds, including those who possess A-Levels, construction related degrees and top performing maths students. I have a strong belief that if we are to successfully engage with the talent of tomorrow, we have to understand what their needs are, and what makes work stimulating for them. Creating strong educational and collaborative partnerships, promoting exciting opportunities and offering attractive employment packages with clear routes to career development is how we will achieve this and has proved an effective strategy for Berkeley Modular so far.� For further information about the training partnership, apprenticeships for offsite or how to get involved contact Cadcoe directly on 01952 605549 or hello@cadcoe.com Member News
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PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF OFFSITE CONSTRUCTION FOR EMERGENCY CARE Raymond Millar, Construction Director at offsite specialists, The McAvoy Group, looks at how a new ambulatory care facility was delivered in Northumbria in less than a year – an unprecedented programme for the scale and complexity of the project.
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Northumbria Healthcare Trust had established a clinical need for a purpose-designed ambulatory care facility to help decompress a very busy emergency department and ensure patients are seen quickly by the most appropriate healthcare professional. Ambulatory care provides urgent same day medical care without the need for patients to stay overnight in hospital. The Trust wanted the new building to replicate the existing hospital and recognised that additional accommodation would be needed to meet the future care needs of the local community. The solution from The McAvoy Group was to construct a three-storey wing offsite, which would precisely match the design of the original facilities, internally and externally. The ambulatory care unit would occupy the middle floor to provide level access to both the main hospital entrance and the A&E department. This would achieve the most efficient patient flows. The ground and second floors would be fitted out as a future phase. The building had to be fully compliant with all relevant HTM and HBN requirements and to have no difference in feel, appearance and quality to the existing facilities. It would be seamlessly linked to the existing hospital on three levels. The new unit had to be fully operational by summer 2019, just 11 months after start on site.
DEVELOPING THE DESIGN The new building had to follow the architectural principles of the existing hospital. This has a bold, striking and simplistic design, and is finished in the Trust’s corporate colours of blue and white. Award-winning healthcare architects P+HS had worked with both the
Raymond Millar, Construction Director at The McAvoy Group Trust and The McAvoy Group previously and were brought into the team to develop the schedule of accommodation with the users and the design to suit offsite construction. James Almond, Director of P+HS Architects, said, “This construction project is unprecedented in terms of the scale and complexity, delivered in such a short timescale. We estimate it would have taken around 18 months on site to build this traditionally. With an innovative offsite solution and a completely focused client, design and delivery team, it was operational nine months earlier and well ahead of the busy winter period. This speed of construction was a critical benefit to the Trust in terms of significantly less on-site disruption to patient care, reduced waiting times, and a faster return on investment. The Trust made good strategic decisions and forward planning was reflected in the design to futureproof the facilities to meet changing local needs.” Member News
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This construction project is unprecedented in terms of the scale and complexity, delivered in such a short timescale. We estimate it would have taken around 18 months on site to build this traditionally.” James Almond, Director of P+HS Architects Coordinator STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT The facility was designed collaboratively and inclusively in conjunction with stakeholders via a clinical user group and led by P+HS Architects. This group was made up of around 25 healthcare professionals including clinicians, nurses, and facilities and estates managers, who met on a weekly basis to develop and sign off the design. The stakeholder group was very engaged in the building requirements, creating a precise brief and setting out the clinical needs. reduced waiting times, and a faster return on investment.”
FUTUREPROOFING Flexibility for future growth had to be designed into the project from the outset. The facilities are constructed around a central corridor to which a further wing can be added at a later date if required, mirroring the recent construction. The internal space was also designed to accommodate changing needs. The roof was structured to allow a light well to be constructed in the future to 20
Member News
bring light deep into the upper floor of the building, creating greater flexibility in the range of options for this space. This would allow more external wall area and natural light for an additional ward if required. The plant room was sized to accommodate two further air handling units for when the two other floors of the new wing are fitted out in the next phase, meeting the future demands of the building.
DIGITAL CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY VR and 3D modelling were used via QR codes to assist the user group in assessing the building design and layout. This also helped to inform other stakeholders about how the proposed spaces would be used on completion. Nurses could ‘walk through’ the building for familiarisation. This digital solution gave the client full awareness of the space and how the different specialisms would interact. The user group was able to experience the facilities, check adjacencies and select colour schemes in a virtual environment as part of the detailed design phase. One person wearing a headset would
‘drive’ the VR with others in the group looking on. This allowed colour options for floors, walls, architraves and handrails to be agreed as a group, for example, and very efficiently. Rob Sanderson, Deputy Director of Capital Projects at the Trust said, “Having a virtual reality model of our proposed new facilities was invaluable. It allowed us to demonstrate the clinical environment to our staff and stakeholders, equipping them with all the information they needed while the project was under construction adjacent to the main hospital.” BIM was valuable throughout the design process to help co-ordinate the architectural design, structural design and complex building services. This facilitated clash detection to maximise offsite production and reduce construction work as much as possible on this fully operational hospital site.
DIGITAL CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY A significant challenge was to tie the new wing into the main hospital streets at each level for a seamless transition and efficient patient flows. The floors had to be level throughout
the wing and into the existing hospital on three levels. However, the modular structure has different ceiling heights to the in-situ constructed hospital – approximately 3.9m versus 5m. McAvoy responded to this challenge by developing and engineering floor cassettes which integrated with the modular structure to provide a truly seamless extension without the need for any ramps and steps. Mechanical ventilation, heating and cooling systems were installed in the ceiling voids in the McAvoy factory. This is believed to be an industry first in the healthcare sector. In order to replicate the appearance of the existing hospital, the new wing has a faceted external facade to create curved ends to the wing. This was achieved by stacking modules containing the ensuite bathrooms and cladding with an advanced render system to achieve the curved appearance. The rainscreen system was tied back to the modular structure to reflect the aesthetic of the main hospital.
FROM BRIEFING TO BUILDING ENVELOPE IN JUST 10 MONTHS The £15m contract encompassed the offsite manufacture of the structure for the 6,500m2 three-storey wing. It also included the fitting out of the first floor to accommodate one of the UK’s first purpose-designed ambulatory care units.
to be treated the same day across four specialisms, without the need for hospital admissions – seven days a week and from 8am to 10pm. This is helping to de-congest the emergency department, allowing patients to be seen by the most appropriate clinician earlier and offering an enhanced service for the local community.
The building was craned into position as 294 steel-framed modules in a highly complex operation that was completed just 10 months after the initial meeting with the Trust.
A RELAXED PATIENT ENVIRONMENT The dedicated, 2025m2 facility for ambulatory care provides medical, surgical and gynaecology care in a relaxed and comfortable environment. It also accommodates a fracture clinic. This allows around 100-120 patients
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ENHANCING SERVICES FOR THE LOCAL COMMUNITY Robert Sanderson, Deputy Director of Capital Projects at the Trust said, “This was a highly complex and ambitious scheme which was delivered to a very tight timescale and to the Trust’s stringent quality standards. It has taken a real team effort to get to this stage in such a short time. The new facilities for ambulatory care will bring enormous benefits for providing alternative pathways for patients needing urgent care.” “Everyone worked on this project in a completely collaborative and focused way to define and build the new wing in a highly ambitious timeframe. I believe what we have achieved collectively – in terms of complexity and timescale – is unprecedented in the healthcare sector and we hope the partnership will continue on other projects.” “The new wing looks exactly the same as the existing building, internally and externally and there has been absolutely no compromise on the quality of finish and the standard of the clinical facilities. The clinical teams had full involvement from the inception of the project, so the layout, clinical adjacencies and patient flows work really well. We are impressed with the quality offsite can achieve and you would never know this was a modular building. No departments in the hospital were adversely affected by the construction process and the finished building is performing well. We are all very proud of the new facility and this application of offsite construction has certainly exceeded our expectations.”
Dr Eliot Sykes, Clinical Director for Surgery and Elective Care added, “The building was clinically designed and led and there was fantastic collaboration and engagement across the clinical, estates, design, and construction teams. This strong working relationship at every level was key to the success of the project”. “The new ambulatory care unit has already made a very real difference to our patients. It will significantly enhance our ability to manage peaks in demand whilst still providing dedicated ambulatory care. Offsite construction and the McAvoy approach has been brilliant in terms of build quality and the pace of construction. We were amazed at the rapid progress from our first meeting to commissioning, and for a building of this scale. Most importantly, feedback from patients has been extremely positive.”
For further information please visit: www.mcavoygroup.com/healthcare 22
Member News
KEY FACTS AND PROJECT TEAM:
This is a really great achievement and something we’re very proud of. Reducing safety risks and hazards is an important element of what we do through our work here, which in turn offers a range of benefits to our projects and customers, as well as the wider business”
Client: Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Facility: Three-storey hospital wing and ambulatory care unit Location: Cramlington, Northumbria Value: £15m Building size: 6.500m Design and build/offsite specialists: The McAvoy Group Cost Consultants: Summers Inman Architects: P+HS Architects Consulting engineers: DSSR Civil and structural engineers: 3e M&E contractor: Dowds Group
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KIER EMBRACES Df DfMA AND DIGITAL AT THE £253M NEW BUILD WELLINGBOROUGH PRISON OVERVIEW On 17th May 2019 Kier commenced work on site at the new build resettlement prison in Wellingborough, after being awarded the £253m contract by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). The project is the first in a series of schemes to be undertaken as part of the MoJ’s wider Change, Strategy and Planning (CSP) Directorate within HMPPS. The aim of the programme is to reform and modernise the prison estate to make it more efficient, safer and focused on supporting rehabilitation. The new category C Resettlement prison is being built on the same site as the former HMP Wellingborough, which closed in 2012. The design developed for the facility supports the MoJ’s commitment to building a safe and secure environment that is conducive to rehabilitation. Buildings feature windows with no bars and each landing can be split into three, with each spur holding 20 men. There is also an association space for residents to use and the visitors’ hall has been designed to be open and light to instil a sense of normality for those visiting.
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DfMA and OFFSITE MANUFACTURE A core feature of the programme is to optimise how the MoJ’s assets are designed, procured, delivered and operated, through a Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) or ‘kit-of-parts’ approach. The Wellingborough scheme is therefore incorporating repeatable, standardised components and assemblies across the thirteen buildings on site. Circa 80% of the design has been standardised, leaving
just 20% as site-specific design. This means that the component assemblies designed for Wellingborough can and will be used on subsequent MoJ prison projects, leveraging economies of scale for the programme. The project makes extensive use of precast concrete components (15,183 precast panels plus more than 60,000 sub-components), bringing together three separate precast suppliers, Bison Precast, FP McCann and Banagher - a total of six different factories across the country - as well as precast management company PCE. This approach is reducing risk, as well as
enabling a high level of innovation and collaboration between Kier and its supply chain partners. For example, prototypes for the new houseblock components were produced and fully tested prior to manufacture. In addition to the precast frame, all MEP services will also be prefabricated, leaving only the flooring, bulkhead lighting and resin to be added during the final stages of construction.
DIGITAL INTEGRATION The Wellingborough scheme is adopting a ‘digital first’ approach to enable Kier to monitor, manage and communicate across the wider team. Due to the amount of prefabrication specified, the design had to be fixed much earlier in the programme to allow manufacture to commence. Using BIM for design co-ordination has therefore been essential. Through the use of BIM and model-checking software the team has been able to accelerate the design and identify potential clashes, particularly assisting with interfaces between the M&E and the precast structure, ultimately enabling a right-first-time installation on site. Regular drone flights have also been capturing the earthworks via a process known as photogrammetry. This technology gives a 3D model of the terrain, meaning that Kier is able to compare against or design formation levels, providing a snapshot of the site and accurate cut and fill reports. In order to control quality across all six factory sites, Kier is also implementing the use of Dalux, a field tool that is allowing the project team to track the status of components being produced by each supplier. Clicking on any precast component within the system brings up the full quality assurance records for that component, allowing the team to digitally track its journey and monitor progress. Live dashboards indicate how well the system is being used, giving full
Beyond bricks and mortar, our approach at Wellingborough is facilitating high levels of collaboration across our supply chain. By collaborating across several different suppliers, each business is able to work to their strengths to deliver offsite excellence and a better product for our client.” John Handscomb, Procurement Lead at Kier transparency to operations. The scheme is also utilising two dedicated quality managers to ensure Kier delivers this large-scale project to the MoJ’s high standards. Every precast component is being linked to the programme in Synchro, giving the team detailed 4D visualisations of the construction programme, against the as-built
programme. As the linking of the models to the programme is automated by coding that exists in the model, the team can effortlessly run ‘what if’ scenarios to ascertain the impact of decisions. Synchro is therefore helping to communicate the programme visually to all, making the data useful to many, not just those who are well versed at interpreting traditional Gantt charts.
James Franklin, Head of BIM at Kier adds: “We used BIM data sets, created from the DfMA component library, to refine the design for some of the highest impact elements of the programme, such as the houseblocks. Our design team optimised this component library; reducing the number of precast concrete components by almost 50%. The real benefit of this is it has provided a programme saving of 18.5 crane weeks per houseblock.”
A great example of where digital technology has assisted us at Wellingborough is through standardising the design. James Franklin, Head of BIM at Kier Member News
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THE GROWING FOCUS ON BIM MODEL HEALTH AT HAWKINS\BROWN Since the Governments BIM mandate some 5 years ago, the adoption of the PAS1192 suite of standards (plus the new ISO19650 series going forwards) and the growing complexity of projects at Hawkins\Brown the reliance on the quality of our BIM models has never been higher. Our growth in expertise within Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) and Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) has increased this further.
aspect of what we consider to be good model health. The second is to manage the quality of the 3D geometry and the third, ensuring that the BIM model has been constructed using both lean and optimized workflows. Given the scale of this task we have adopted a variety of tools to assist in the process. These include both off the shelf products such as BIMcollab and bespoke tools that have been developed within our Specialist Design Studio.
The data embedded within our BIM models is no longer used simply for the delivery of our package information. Now all elements are classified using Uniclass 2015 codes (Elements and Functions, Systems and Products) and where applicable SFG20 coding is provided along with NRM1 information.
The Specialist Design Studio have been working alongside our partnered software developers Fabrit Global and digital engineers Bimorph, to develop a series of tools that totally change the way in which we both see and respond to the health of our Revit Models. Our aim has been not only to be more proactive in our response to model health, but to also approach it at a practice wide scale and not just on a model by model basis.
If a client has procured an Asset Information Model (AIM) and requires the AIM in COBie UK-2012 format then those managed assets within the model are embedded with additional metrics such as asset type, manufacturer, model number, size, colour, finish etc. to name but a few. Given that this meta-data is relied upon by a multitude of parties then validating its quality, as an aspect of model health, is extremely important. The task of managing this data can be laborious. Yet this is only one 26
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Our HB\RevitBrowser is a platform that we are currently developing that provides us with real time model metrics on every single one of our live Revit projects, spread across 6 locations around the world. Through a series of bespoke dashboards, we are now able to look under the hood of all our BIM models simultaneously. Using this we can immediately gain insights on a single, multiple or all our models health by accessing and analyzing a variety of metrics which
include: A count of any families that have been mirrored in a model; The file size of every family loaded into a project; or the number of unplaced rooms in a project. Individually each of these metrics may seem minor to some but all have the potential to either impact model performance or result in inaccurate data being taken from our BIM models.
Close up view of the visualisation for largest 5 families loaded into an active project.
An example of the Early warning dashboard that is currently in development.
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Already the HB\RevitBrowser is allowing us to quickly identify model health concerns, in real time and address them before they have the potential to develop into a larger issue. The next stage of the development will be to create new dashboard that are tailored to the specific data points that are key to individual projects of clients. Alongside this we have also been developing a Revit plugin that automates our internal model health audit process. Previously this was a manual process that, depending on the scale and complexity of the model, would take somewhere between 1-3 days to audit and produce a report. Much of this time is spent performing dull and repetitive tasks.
By using this new tool, the majority of the process now only takes a 2-3 minutes with the remaining time being taking to manually input feedback on more subjective elements of a models health. With a single button click in Revit, we collect data on a large array of key metrics to autogenerate a detailed audit report. This report drills deep into the model data and represents information that, is sometimes hard to identify in the BIM model, in an easily digestible format. This includes producing information and a series of tables for the number of elements in the model, that are missing their space, element or IFC classification data, as shown in the accompanying image.
The speed at which we can now produce model health reports has meant that we can conduct audits much more frequently, as a team no longer needs to find the time to conduct them in an already busy program. The time saved producing these documents can be reinvested into improving model health across the practice. This can be done through identifying and conducting required training sessions or running CPD on our best practice workflows. The next step is to continue to develop this tool and expand its functionality, so that we can use it as a way to also audit our consultants models. This would be hugely beneficial in improving out capacity and capabilities in offering an Information Management role. Having the skills within our Specialist Design studio, to develop such tools in-house has provided Hawkins\ Brown with the flexibility and platform to deliver a robust and highly efficient data validation process. This helps ensure that we deliver BIM models of high model health and quality to our clients.
BIM Model Audit Report Project Name Project Number: 00000 Date: 30/10/2019 Workstage: Ref: DocumentRef
BIM Model Audit Report \ DocumentRef \ ddYYMM
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We are now able to look under the hood of all our BIM models simultaneously. Using this tool we can immediately gain insights on a single, multiple or all our models health by accessing and analyzing a variety of metrics.� Ben Robinson, Digital Designer at Hawkins\Brown
2. Model Health 2.1 Model Health Overview
Pages taken our Model Audit report tool. 90% of the information in these pages is automatically populated with the remaining 10% inputted by the BIM coordinator on the project.
Having carried out an overall model health check of the XXX Revit File, the following breakdown indicates key metrics against which the general health of a model can be judged. 2.1.1 Model Warnings The project at the point of audit has 116 warnings. Given the size and scale of the project, this is not a significant number of warnings. However it is important that the High and medium priority warnings are addressed quickly
Figure 2: Active warnings in the project
Model Warnings Unclassified 9
High Priority 11
Low Priority 50
High Priority
Medium Priority 46
Medium Priority
Low Priority
Unclassified
For help in how to reduce the number of model warnings in a project please see the Hawkins\Brown ‘Model Warning Tool’ guidance on the intranet: https://hawkinsbrown.interactgo.com/Interact/Pages/Content/Document.aspx?id=3002 2.1.2 Unplaced Views The XXX Revit File currently has 365 unplaced views. This is broken down by view type as follows: − − − − − − −
38 \ 3D Views 110 \ Plan Views 13 \ Elevation Views 185 \ Section Views 5 \ Ceiling Views 14 \ Drafting Views 2 \ Area Plan Views
The number of unplaced sections views and plans views could easily be reduced by using the View Clean Up tool in the HB toolbar
3. BIM Level 2 3.3 Element Classification BIM Model Audit Report \ DocumentRef \ ddYYMM Modelled elements within our BIM Level 2 projects are also required to be classified with 1-3 difference Uniclass 2015 classification codes. These 3 classification types are: − − −
Ef \ Element & Function Codes Ss \ System Codes Pr \ Product Codes
As the names suggest, these are three tiers of varying granularity. As a base, and from an early work stage, our models should be populated with Element & Function codes. This can be done in one-click with the Hawkins\Brown Element & Function Populate tool in your Revit Ribbon. See user guidance document here: https://hawkinsbrown.interactgo.com/Interact/Pages/Content/Document.aspx?id=2998 Full compliance for RIBA Stages 3-4 will be achieved by including a product code, system code, or when applicable both. System codes are applied to building systems i.e a doorset, product codes are applied to specific products i.e. a door closer. Below is a pie chart which demonstrates the level of compliance against the classification fields described above:
Element Classification
Pr Codes 156
Ss Codes 156
Ef Codes 156 0
20
40
60
Unclassified Elements
80
100
Classified Elements
120
140
160
180
Total Elements
Figure 3: Element classification Should any items be non-compliant, it is recommended that the Task Information Manager use the Hawkins\Brown classification analysis tools to generate Revit schedules of the missing classification elements. Further advice can be sought by contacting the BIM support team.
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FABIEN CROCHETET APPOINTED AS UK REGIONAL SALES MANAGER AT COBUILDER Fabien Crochetet is the new Cobuilder Regional Sales Manager responsible for the UK market.
I am glad to be part of a very experienced team at Cobuilder made of industry experts. Together we aim at pursuing our mission through the respect and enrichment of current and future industry standards.�
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BACKGROUND Fabien has 15 years of sales management experience within the information technology and construction industry along with a strong grasp on the UK regional market. He has worked across the value chain within the construction industry actors ranging from financial institutions, main contractors up to the manufacturers. Before Cobuilder, he was Sales Manager in “LetsBuild“, a digital construction software company. There he specialized in delivering customized IT solutions to customers like Osborne and IIkes Homes. For more than 11 years Fabien has worked for the computer technology corporation Oracle where he was Application Sales Manager and Channel Manager. Over the years, he has built stable partnerships with trade organizations like Built UK. In addition, he has developed solutions around BIM and Facility management. Fabien holds an MA in International Business from the University of Wolverhampton. He is fluent in English, French and speaks a bit of Mandarin. On the personal side, Fabien loves traveling, good food, and sports, especially football.
I look forward to continuing this success whilst bringing a fresh new approach. I am eager to help any organization to increase efficiencies and reap the benefits of structured & interoperable product data flowing through the project lifecycle.� AT COBUILDER Having such a proven and talented professional on the board at Cobuilder, Fabien will work closely with our partners, establishing strategic alliances and empowering them to expand their business and increase profitability through standard-based digital data solutions. Fabien will bring his invaluable expertise in affirming Cobuilder`s strong presence in the UK market. He will support strategic initiatives for sales and client acquisition and will effectively manage partner relationships across the construction industry.
For more information, please do not hesitate to contact Fabien Crochetet at crochetet@cobuilder.com or directly at his LinkedIn profile.
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MEMBER HIGHLIGHTS 2019 NG BAILEY CELEBRATES A SUCCESSFUL 2019 With the new year just having started, independent engineering and services group, NG Bailey, reflects on what has been a successful 2019 for the company, with a host of new services and engineering contracts, framework wins and project completions. The Group reported a 16% increase in turnover to £556m, with underlying operating profit also increasing from £13.7m to £19.4m for the 12 months ended 1 March 2019. NG Bailey has attributed its successful financial performance this year in part to its acquisition of Freedom, which provides technical engineering and maintenance services, in March 2018. This move allowed it to expand its engineering and maintenance services across major infrastructure portfolios. The existing NG Bailey business also increased its profitability, further strengthening its position. During the past year, the company has worked on significant contracts including a new energy centre for North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust; Grosvenor House, a landmark development in the heart of Sheffield city centre; Sovereign House, the new headquarters for Leeds Building Society; and the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre. NG Bailey has been pioneering the use of offsite assembly since the late 1990s, 32
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so it is unsurprising that this technique has played a key part in the successful delivery of these standout projects. The Grosvenor House project in Sheffield saw NG Bailey provide £15m of MEP services to help transform Sheffield city centre with a seven-story development, part of the new mixed retail and commercial quarter. A key element of the offsite strategy on Grosvenor House was to move away from traditional pipework and jointing techniques and use NG Bailey’s unique Unistrut technique which crimps joints, rather than welding them. This technique not only saves time and money, but also significantly improves site safety as no hot works are required.
Due to its city centre location, the project also presented a number of logistical challenges for all teams involved, but by utilising offsite techniques, the NG Bailey team was able to remove a total of 25,000 overall labour hours from site, including 15,000 hours of M&E labour and 3,000 hours of hot works. Not only was this a valuable time and resource saving, it also improved site safety and with fewer people travelling to site, reduced daily congestion, saving an estimated 29.60 tonnes of carbon. NG Bailey’s specialist offsite facility in Bradford will also have an important
role to play in its current work on the UK’s new centre of excellence for battery technology, the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC). The company has been appointed Principal Contractor for the prestigious £126 million development which will see the creation of a new facility to develop the latest electric car battery technology near Coventry. The contract is worth £14.6m to NG Bailey and, once complete, the Government-backed facility will provide a boost to the UK’s ambition to lead the world in the development of zero emission vehicles. Offsite solutions for this project include production of horizontal multi-service modules which will enable 56m to be installed every day and an innovative space-saving multi-service bridge structure which will help reduce the amount of space needed to house the building’s essential services and maximise useful production and working. These techniques will also shift more than 17,500 hours of work away from site helping to create a safer working environment and reduce on-site congestion. Away from offsite, NG Bailey has enjoyed success across the rest of the Group, with its Freedom team, part of the company’s Services division, extending its relationship with both Yorkshire Water and UK Power
Project Cavendish, NG Bailey Project of the Year Networks. The Yorkshire Water contract saw Freedom secure a place on the provider’s high voltage electrical design and maintenance framework for the next four years. Freedom also secured a four-year extension with UK Power Networks on its £49m Overhead Line & Distribution Capital Delivery Services framework to support its essential maintenance and commissioning works. The division also secured a contract renewal with Western Power Distribution to provide consents and wayleaves services for the company. Freedom has been providing land services to Western Power Distribution for more than 10 years and has managed more than 10,000 cases for them across all the company’s distribution licence areas. Looking ahead to 2020, NG Bailey has a strong pipeline of work, with its future order book growing to £1.4bn from £1bn in 2017/18. Reflecting on the company’s success in 2019, David Hurcomb, chief executive at NG Bailey, said: “We have continued to deliver against our five-year strategy to achieve a balance in the business across our Engineering and Services divisions. The success of this plan is reflected in a strong operating performance that has continued to improve year-on-year.
sector are operating in a challenging environment, but we believe our solid financial position, and our continued investment in our people, puts us in a good position to weather any future economic uncertainty.”
We have continued to deliver against our five-year strategy to achieve a balance in the business across our Engineering and Services divisions. The success of this plan is reflected in a strong operating performance that has continued to improve year-on-year.” David Hurcomb, Chief Executive at NG Bailey
“All businesses in the construction Member Highlights
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1
KIER 1
In 2019 we published ‘The Choice Factory’, which has since been shortlisted for four industry innovation awards. The book examines offsite manufacture through the lens of behavioural science and identifies opportunities to encourage more wide-spread adoption through education, communication and a straight-forward behavioural change strategy.
2 In March 2019 Kier was named ‘Offsite Pioneer of the Year’ at the Offsite Construction Awards. The winning entry captured Kier’s determination to give priority to modern methods of construction, embracing offsite technology to overcome specific challenges and to achieve higher levels of performance and efficiency.
3
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Kier was awarded a £253m new build prison at Wellingborough. Kier is driving a manufacturing mindset and ‘digital first’ approach for this project, using digital technologies to assist in standardising the design through the use of repeatable components.
SOLIBRI Solibri, along with Tideway and Evolve Consultancy recently were awarded Best BIM Project at The Construction Computing Awards.
Evolve Consultancy were established in 2005 to provide support and development services to the construction industry. Since then they have grown to become one of the UK’s premier BIM and design technology consultancies with clients all around the globe, they have established themselves as experts in their field. The staff at Evolve have the practical experience that is required for design, development and implementation of technology enabled data production processes, paving the way for new ways of working. That is certainly a skill that has provided huge benefits to the Tideway project already and has been a key part in Tideway establishing their goals as an intelligent client to collect the data for handover and operations and ensure the soft landings period is achieved in a smooth and efficient manner.
The Tideway Project Despite being a marvel of Victorian engineering, the London sewerage system is not no longer fit for purpose. Currently it spills millions of tonnes of sewage into the tidal section of the Thames every year, which is an unsustainable situation. The Thames Tideway Tunnel project will tackle this problem of overflows and expand the capacity of the London sewage network to meet European environmental standards. The scale of the Tideway Tunnel should ensure capacity for the city for at least the next 120 years. The essence of the design is to divert sewage overflows, which currently empty into the Thames, into a large tunnel 65m below the river. Starting in West London, the route for the main tunnel follows the Thames to Limehouse, Member Highlights
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where it then continues north-east to Abbey Mills Pumping Station near Stratford. There it will be connected to the Lee Tunnel, which will transfer the sewage to Beckton Sewage Treatment Works. There are 24 construction sites along the length of the tunnel, divided into 3 zones: West, Central and East. Covering these zones are three Main Works Contractors, all of which are Joint Ventures.
From the start Tideway had decided on an Open BIM strategy. This of course means everyone working on the project can use their desired software solutions that they are familiar with and the tools that are best for the job at hand. This removed a vast swathe of requirements and expenditure for software procurement, licensing or training, and instead focussed on the delivering of Open BIM data. This also allowed for the tender process to cast as wider net of bidders as possible, be it designers, contractors or fabricators. As no prescriptive requirements were placed on potential bidders (beyond delivering the correct information) no one would be disqualified at the outset. Another major advantage of the Open BIM approach will be the flexibility in feeding the outputs into the management systems that Thames Water implement for the project, when they take control 12 months after completion. That decision also removed any potential risk of using native formats and not being able to open the models in the future as the authoring tools develop and change and support for old file formats may not be available.
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In Summary The combination of an intelligent client (Tideway) that knew what they wanted, with the help of a world class partner (Evolve Consultancy) were prescriptive about exactly how they were going to get the delivery they required. A decision to use what some may say was brave to adopt an Open BIM approach meant Tideway allowed their design team, contractors and sub-contractors to use the tools they chose and already knew well and future proofed the delivery of models and information. Solibri’s unique model checking solution is the vehicle that brings that guarantee of quality data to the process, checking and validating each model and its data to the requirements of Tideway. Its logical rulesets are flexible enough to be configured to allow Tideway and Evolve to get exactly the asset information they require. As BIM and digital processes move forward much of the construction industry is still figuring out how they provide checks and approvals that although time consuming and open to errors were simpler in a 2D world. Tideway and Evolve are leading the drive to provide quality projects with quality data. After all what good is data if it hasn’t been validated?
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MEET OUR NEW MEMBERS W: www.ukcares.com For more info please contact: Lee Brankley, CEO E: secretary@ukcares.com
CARES is an independent, not-for-profit certification body, established in 1983 to provide confidence to the users, purchasers and specifiers of constructional steels through a regime of regulation, testing and inspection. It operates for the benefit of the construction industry offering certification schemes for companies that produce materials, components or offer services, primarily to the reinforced concrete industry. Clients can specify CARES approved companies and products with confidence that they will comply with the relevant product or system standards and without the need for verification testing by the purchaser or contractor. 1. Why you joined? CARES has joined Buildoffsite to engage with those seeking to ‘find a better way’ in delivering project solutions across the built environment. This is a time of fundamental change in our sector and CARES is proud of its own track record in delivering positive change to the assurance of safety critical materials entering the construction supply chain. 2. What are you looking to achieve in the sector and how can the Buildoffsite network support in that? Building confidence in the provenance of critically important steel products used in construction - at a time of fake data scandals and concerns about the performance characteristics of materials entering the supply chain - has never been more important than it is now. Providing that assurance, and consistent confidence through a proven track record of sector-leading expertise, is the key driver for CARES: ensuring that message reaches those charged with designing, specifying and procuring these materials is the challenge, and opportunity, for all. 3. Who do you want to connect with? CARES is constantly seeking to widen its network of expertise across the sector and with the overarching priorities of delivering sustainable solutions and sector-leading digital transparency there are network opportunities for enterprises which share similar goals. 4. What can you offer to Buildoffsite’s network? CARES offers unrivalled, sector-leading expertise in the assurance of reinforcing steels based on more than 30 years’ hands-on experience in more than 40 international markets. This expertise is now being harnessed digitally providing a new level of understanding around the performance - and provenance - of safety critical products. This work, in particular, is game-changing and sets CARES apart as the sector leader in its field.
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Meet our new members
W: www.bptw.co.uk For more info please contact: Andy Heath, Partner E: aheath@bptw.co.uk T: 020 8312 8822 BPTW brings together specialisms in architecture and planning to transform not just physical spaces, but people’s lives. For over 30 years, innovation in design, planning, sustainability and construction technologies has established BPTW’s reputation as experts in residential development, neighbourhood place-making and mixed-use regeneration. With a focus on exploring innovative ways to design and build better homes, we place a strong emphasis on research and development through modern methods of construction and offsite construction solutions. Having used offsite techniques for almost twenty years we have extensive experience in employing them to improve efficiency, build quality and environmental performance, while considering how to reduce waste and speed up delivery. 1. Why you joined? We believe early collaboration is essential to achieving efficient, high quality design and Buildoffsite provides a platform for likeminded professionals to come together with the committed ethos of promoting good design using offsite manufacture techniques. Utilising offsite methods of construction is becoming increasingly relevant and with a greater call for alternative, innovative building techniques apparent, we consider it of paramount importance that we are a part of this discussion. BPTW are primarily residential specialists and in a period of huge and increasing housing demand we see Buildoffsite as part of the answer.
2. What are you looking to achieve in the sector and how can the Buildoffsite network support in that? With likeminded members from a range of sectors and disciplines across the UK, Buildoffsite will provide access to a wide range of experience and knowledge. Buildoffsite will help us to connect with other organisations and professionals working in the field and pave the way for us to work alongside those who share a common goal and a shared understanding of the benefits of OSM. Buildoffsite will also serve as a forum for us to raise our profile and further establish ourselves as leading professionals in OSM. Buildoffsite will enable us to promote and share our expertise as well as demonstrate what we consider the benefits of using offsite methods to be for the benefit of the industry. 3. Who do you want to connect with? As architects we have traditionally bridged the gap between clients and contractors in the procurement process. Successfully delivering offsite methods of construction will require all parties to work collaboratively from the outset and we are looking to connect with those organisations who share this mindset. We are also committed to research and innovation and are keen to link up with likeminded organisations for joint working and the development of ideas. As architects we particularly want to connect with clients to develop our understanding of OSM from a client’s perspective working to identify the barriers to adopting OSM as well as highlighting and exploiting the benefits in order to overcome these challenges to deliver more and better homes. 4. What can you offer to Buildoffsite’s network? Since first integrating OSM into our work in the early 2000s, we have designed a number of highly successful schemes using a range of Design for Manufacture and Assembly and MMC solutions including CLT construction, volumetric, panelised façade systems, light-gauge steel frames, timber frame, structural insulated panels, prefabricated components and bathroom and kitchen pods. This has given us a breadth experience of the application of OSM techniques which enables us to offer real world advice to our clients. In tandem with our commitment to offsite construction methods, we consider ourselves leaders in the introduction of Building Information Management (BIM) into the residential sector using techniques which will deliver significant benefits to clients and building users. Meet our New Members
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For more info please contact: Marcus Fookes, Head of New Markets and Operations E: marcus@firststarthomes.co.uk M: 07881581196
For over 25 years , the Purever Group has been researching more efficient and sustainable construction methods that create real savings, not only in economic terms but also in terms of time and energy and carbon reduction. In addition to the extraordinary durability, it’s design nature allows it to be fully adjusted to the different construction types and client needs, adapting to the desired aesthetics and format as required for buildings as diverse as schools, medical centres and hospitals, banks, etc. In addition to this, First Start Homes offer a full turnkey operation, and an off the shelf suite of properties to suit the first time buyer and social housing provider market, from a one bedroom bungalow to a block of low rise flats, this ensures affordability for all without compromising on quality. The factory can produce over 200 properties per week to cater for the ever growing demand for quality homes in the UK. It is our aim to help the first timer buyers in the UK to be able to easily afford to own their home with our business model. FSH are able to do this because we have a well established parent company which has been working within off-site manufacture for many years, and is able to offer its factory facility, product and scalability through First Start Homes. FSH has an extremely passionate team of individuals who together strive to create the perfect homes at an affordable cost for everyone.
1. Why you joined? To increase our networking and share our journey and innovations with likeminded people. 2. What are you looking to achieve in the sector and how can the Buildoffsite network support in that? We are looking to launch our products into the UK with the help and support of BOS. The network opportunities with BOS members is a great place to start. 3. Who do you want to connect with? Everyone. 4. What can you offer to Buildoffsite’s network? A great product at an amazing price. We are going to get young people into an affordable first home. 40
Meet our New Members
W: www.frameclad.com For more info please contact: Paul Winwood, Managing Director E: enquiries@frameclad.com T: 01384 401114
Frameclad design, manufacture and supply Light Gauge Steel Frame components, frames and structures. Operating from very basic end of the market to the multi storey, fully engineered and assembled end of the market. From humble beginnings, trading “metal” as a specialised merchant, Mark Munns (founder) has grown the business through various phases of development. New production premises, continued investment and a highly trained and motivated staff ensure we produce fully formed, assembled and boarded panels (some insulated) products and systems of immensely complex design to the highest standards. Speed, cost and time saving and unerring accuracy continue to be our mantra. Honest and secure advice provided from a platform of experience backed by a collaborative approach at all stages of design, manufacture and installation process make Frameclad the obvious choice as a partner and provide the real alternative to traditional methods. Frameclad clients enjoy a unique experience of being engaged at all points through the process from concept through to design, manufacture and delivery. Frameclad are looking for partners who share common goals and aspirations. If you have a project that you feel may benefit from the involvement of the Frameclad team we would be delighted to hear from you either by email or telephone – all details below. 1. Why you joined? We attended a few events that Buildoffsite ran and we were very impressed with the organisation and type of attendees. 2. What are you looking to achieve in the sector and how can the Buildoffsite network support in that? We are looking to increase the uptake of offsite and MMC – Buildoffsite will hopefully help us by supporting the sector and promoting and being advocates for the whole range of MMC and offsite technology of which we are a small part. 3. Who do you want to connect with? Like minded companies with a proactive and open minded approach to business 4. What can you offer to Buildoffsite’s network? Honesty and a realistic approach to using new methods of construction as well as being open to working with and alongside other technologies and companies in a collaborative non- combative way.
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CONSTRUCTION INNOVATION HUB AND BUILDOFFSITE ANNOUNCE NEW PARTNERSHIP Leading offsite advocacy body Buildoffsite, part of the CIRIA network, has teamed up with the Construction Innovation Hub to help deliver its mission to transform the way that buildings and infrastructure are designed, manufactured, integrated and connected within the built environment.
uptake of manufacturing technologies and digital ways of working throughout the sector. Following the announcement, Buildoffsite joins Constructing Excellence and the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC) as one of the Hub’s formal delivery partners.
With a wide membership, including UK and international clients, suppliers, professional services and academic organisations, Buildoffsite will work closely with the Hub to drive the
The Hub’s network of delivery partners – each a highly influential voice in its own right – and their collective reach will be critical to the success of the Hub’s wider programme
to transform UK construction and deliver better outcomes for the sector, the environment and wider society. Announcing the new partnership at the Offsite Construction Show in London, Construction Innovation Hub Programme Director, Keith Waller said: “I’m really excited by the opportunities that this new partnership with Buildoffsite will create for our programme, which is now a year off the ground. “Government has already declared a preference to move towards offsite
Joe Dyde, Business Manager
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Buildoffsite News
Buildoffsite is delighted to have been invited to partner with the Construction Innovation Hub and to be in a position to formally support the Hub’s programme to transform the way that UK construction projects are designed, delivered and perform in use to the benefit of the UK as a whole.”
for critical buildings like schools and hospitals and a central part of our mission as the Construction Innovation Hub is to help Government turn this ambition into a reality. This will deliver positive outcomes not just for Government and the sector, but importantly, for wider society as well. “But as we’ve said before, we cannot do this any of this alone. We really need all the key players with us on this journey. Having established itself as the authoritative voice of the offsite sector, Buildoffsite is undoubtedly one of the most critical players in construction today and we’re delighted to have them onboard.”
the industry works comes along. By pooling Buildoffsite resources, and the knowledge and success of our diverse membership, with those of the other delivery partners we will be best placed to ensure that the ambitions for the Hub are delivered and the confidence and commitment of Government and the industry at large are followed through.”
Buildoffsite Business Manager, Joe Dyde added: “Buildoffsite is delighted to have been invited to partner with the Construction Innovation Hub and to be in a position to formally support the Hub’s programme to transform the way that UK construction projects are designed, delivered and perform in use to the benefit of the UK as a whole. It is only once in a generation that such a substantial opportunity to make a really big difference to the way
Having established itself as the authoritative voice of the offsite sector, Buildoffsite is undoubtedly one of the most critical players in construction today and we’re delighted to have them onboard.”
Keith Waller, Programme Director
Buildoffsite News
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BUILDOFFSITE AT THE OFFSITE CONSTRUCTION SHOW 2019 Almost the entire Buildoffsite Team decamped to London’s Docklands on 20th and 21st November, to support the 2019 Offsite Construction Show (OSCS) taking place at the ExCel Centre. Owned and operated by Marwood Events, the Show is now in its fifth year at ExCel and has become a firm favourite event for the increasing number of industry and client professionals who recognise that the intelligent use of offsite solutions provides an unmatched opportunity to re-examine how projects are designed and constructed, and to establish new benchmarks for quality, productivity and client value. OSCS is the only UK construction industry show exclusively dedicated to the promotion and better understanding of the opportunities for offsite solutions for all construction markets. In addition to offsite exhibitors drawn from the UK and overseas, the Show once again provided a serious business to business environment for industry and client delegates to meet, exchange ideas and to experience some of the latest industry developments, whilst providing a high-profile platform for the delivery of class leading, free to attend, Seminars and Workshops delivered by both Marwood and by Buildoffsite. 44
Buildoffsite News
A prominent Buildoffsite exhibition stand served as a constantly busy meeting point for both delegates and exhibitors, with Members dropping in to say hello, visitors wanting to know more about Buildoffsite activities and Membership, plus visitors enquiring about the use of offsite to improve their competitive edge. Interest in offsite solutions continues to grow as construction businesses look to simplify the construction process and improve the value they can offer to clients. Buildoffsite, as an authoritative, but non-commercial organisation, is seen as providing a secure and non-challenging environment in which such discussions can take place. In addition to the business contacts plus event details and other information available on our stand, Buildoffsite was kept incredibly busy delivering a substantial programme of industry leading Seminars and Workshops. Running throughout the two days of OSCS, this programme comprised 16 substantial sessions involving almost 70 speakers, covering a wide range of building and civil engineering sectors, and showcased opportunities for offsite in both new build and refurbishment projects. Economic prospects for the construction market were reviewed, a selection of opinion pieces from
diverse clients provided, debating activities to deliver the skills the industry needs, as well as providing an overview of the work of the joint industry/Government Construction Leadership Council, outlined Government backed investment in innovation, plus so much more. The Buildoffsite programme of free to attend events offered something of interest to visitors and we are hugely grateful to all those who gave so generously of their time and expertise to bring these events to life. The common denominator for all sessions was the increasing need for decision takers to take an informed offsite enabled approach to project design and project delivery in order to transform the quality and performance of UK construction. From a Buildoffsite perspective, one of the high points of the Show was the announcement from Keith Waller, Programme Director for the Government backed Construction Innovation Hub, that Buildoffsite had been invited to partner with the Hub to formally support the programme to transform the way that UK construction
Offsite Construction Show, Joe Dyde, Buildoffsite’s Business Manager, reflected: “Our ambition had been to establish a mutually supporting partnership with Marwood and we think we achieved this. We had set out to promote the work that Buildoffsite is undertaking to promote the role of offsite in transforming the performance of the UK construction industry and thereby give value to our Members. We think we did a good job of that. We also wanted to create a substantial networking and learning platform so that those new to the use of offsite or wanting to add to their knowledge, could readily connect with and learn from the experiences of those who are at the cutting edge.”
Membership and stakeholders, we did a reasonable job in promoting what offsite is and what, with a sustained, shared effort it could become.”
Joe concludes: “The acid test for how effective we had been at achieving this ambition has always been the buzz of conversation from the hundreds of visitors who came along to our stand and to our events. For two days in November that buzz came over loud and clear, so I think we can be satisfied that on behalf of our
projects are designed, delivered and perform in use. Buildoffsite will work closely with the Hub to drive the uptake of manufacturing technologies and digital ways of working throughout the sector. This is an important recognition of the innovative advocacy and knowledge transfer work that Buildoffsite has undertaken over the years Summing up the experience of Buildoffsite participating at the 2019
We had set out to promote the work that Buildoffsite is undertaking to promote the role of offsite in transforming the performance of the UK construction industry and thereby give value to our Members. We think we did a good job of that. We also wanted to create a substantial networking and learning platform so that those new to the use of offsite or wanting to add to their knowledge, could readily connect with and learn from the experiences of those who are at the cutting edge.” Joe Dyde, Business Manager Buildoffsite Buildoffsite News
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BUILDOFFSITE’S RAIL HUB PUBLISHES LINEAR INFRASTRUCTURE OVERBUILD GUIDE How could you build a quarter of a million homes for London? The Buildoffsite Linear Infrastructure Overbuild Guide is ready to help. Inspired by WSP’s Out of Thin Air reports it aims to do 3 things. 1.
Make more potential sites viable, creating homes and offsite project opportunities 2. Enable stakeholders to consider how to unlock more of this potential 3. Help more developers and suppliers to be involved with infrastructure overbuild. This project is the sort of collaboration that is at the heart of Buildoffsite. It covers both civil engineering and residential aspects. Lead authors from WSP, Hawkins\Brown, Sheppard Robson, IFPI, Meinhardt and Mace, supported by numerous Buildoffsite members, TfL, HS2 and Network Rail, and other specialists, have created an informative and challenging guide. Edited by Bill Price (WSP) and Nigel Fraser (Buildoffsite) it will provide a basis for an exciting programme of activities to be guided by Nigel McKay in 2020. To get your copy of the Guide, click here.
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Buildoffsite News
UPCOMING EVENTS 2020 16 Jan
Design & Digital Hub meeting followed by tour & drinks
13 Feb
Wellington prison factory tour hosted by Bison & Kier
25 Feb
Residential Hub meeting
25-26 Feb
Ideal Standard | 76-78 Clerkenwell Rd | London | EC1M 5QA
Bison Precast | Tetron Point | William Nadin Way | Swadlincote | DE11 0BB
JCB | Waterloo Park | Beamhurst | Uttoxeter | Staffordshire | ST14 5PA
Direction Group Dinner & Meeting hosted by JCB JCB | Waterloo Park | Beamhurst | Uttoxeter | Staffordshire | ST14 5PA
3 Mar
Tour & meeting at the Active Building Centre
18 Mar
Water Hub meeting
25 Mar
Member to member event
21 - 22 Apr
University Bay Campus | Swansea
Welsh Water | Spooner Close | Marshfield | Newport | NP10 8FZ
Arup | 13 Fitzroy Street | London | W1T 4BQ
Direction Group Dinner & Meeting hosted by Premier Modular Premier Modular | Catfoss Industrial Estate | Catfoss Lane | Driffield | YO25 8EJ
For more information on our events and to register please visit our website.
Upcoming Events
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