Successfully realising the benefits of DfMA is not easy, especially for complex projects like battery factories.

This work is now a key focus for the CIH, and it is the heart of the demonstrator project that has won this latest funding from UKRI.The close collaboration between Landsec, Easi-Space, the Bryden Wood design team and a new supply chain, is now applying the P-DfMA design and prototype learnings to a live Landsec project in Sumner Street, central London..

This development will be two office buildings around an internal courtyard, rising to nine storeys and covering a total of 135,000 sq ft.It is designed to a ‘zero carbon in use’ strategy, and the efficiencies and innovations inherent to P-DfMA are already achieving remarkable gains: 40% reduction in steel used; a forecast 19.4% reduction in embodied carbon per square metre, a 36.4% carbon reduction in the substructure and 20.2% in the superstructure and façade.. Sumner Street is a game changer for construction.But it’s important to see that it has not come in isolation.

It is a big step on a journey that is a direct result of support and collaboration between UK government, key industry players and a new supply chain.. All the learnings from the Sumner Street project will be fed back into the work of the CIH, continuing the virtuous cycle; this initiative was promoted by government at the start, and is now demonstrating how that initial support is bearing fruit and will continue to do so..It is through collaborative approaches like this between government and the private sector that we can achieve value-driven transformation of the sector and bring enormous benefit to the built environment and society more broadly.. On 8 July 2020, Chancellor Rishi Sunak committed funding to modern methods of construction in his Plan for Jobs..

The story continues.The use of robotics in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry is very appealing, mainly because of the increase in productivity and quality that automation is expected to achieve..

In order to fully realise these benefits, though, the industry must first question which of our current processes should be automated and which should be re-thought..This includes the way the work is planned and the way organisations are contracted and integrated..

In my next post, I will discuss Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) and how value can be delivered and efficiencies derived from its application.In this blog, I reflect on how you approach planning for design with emergence..

I was asked to look at creating a schedule for the design of a modular, intensified-pharmaceutical plant, beyond its conceptual stage.This project looked at delivering a new technology to the company in a new and radical way.