As with all change, the principle barriers will be the cultural shift required..

The development of Platforms started back in 2016, when the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) appointed us to develop a new type of prison, focused on rehabilitative outcomes for prisoners.One aspect of the project was to maximise the use of DfMA and set a new benchmark for public sector adoption.

It soon became apparent that systems developed for the MOJ (whose estate includes education, healthcare, offices, sports halls and workshops) would also be appropriate for the wider public sector..The cross-department Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) Working Group fostered this approach and adopted the term ‘Platforms’.It was brought across from manufacturing thanks to the involvement of the Manufacturing Technology Centre who are now a partner in the Construction Innovation Hub.

This Group’s work was documented in ‘.Delivery Platforms for Government Assets.

’ and was influential in Chancellor Philip Hammond’s November 2017 Budget Statement, which endorsed MMC and committed the government to drive its adoption..

Meanwhile, the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), who implemented the mandatory use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in public sector works, funded Bryden Wood and the MTC to develop further the cross-fertilisation of manufacturing and construction.In data centres operating within ASHRAE A1 Allowance temperature and located in colder/dryer climates, direct evaporative coolers (DEC) are a highly efficient solution, however, they utilise a larger footprint on the site.

These systems can potentially operate in free cooling mode year-round, leveraging both dry and adiabatic cooling based on external conditions.This can translate to low reliance on mechanical cooling and potentially exceptional PUE values..

Using water for adiabatic cooling allows the unit to cool the air close to the wet bulb temperature of the ambient air as opposed to the dry bulb temperature (dry cooling).Due to the wet bulb temperature being often many degrees below coincident dry bulb temperature, in high dry bulb conditions this can mitigate the requirement for mechanical cooling.. Data Centre with DEC unit.