This will in turn enable clients to make better choices and achieve better delivery of buildings.. Progressing the future of construction.

But they don’t have to be.If the construction process can be transformed into the streamlined and predictable assembly of pre-manufactured parts, combined with on-site construction processes that are carefully managed to add the maximum value, much greater productivity can result.. To give a slightly left-field example, consider a circus tent.

Typically, these large structures are put up overnight by a small team of trained operatives.In a budget-conscious industry, every hour counts, so assembly is planned to be as quick as possible, and disassembly is just as quick.It would be even quicker if the tent was pre-erected, of course, but this doesn’t make sense from a transportation and logistics perspective.

Instead, they use a component kit-of-parts that is easily handled and takes up very little space during transportation.A permanent building may have different drivers, but lessons can still be learned from highly efficient on-site works such as the circus tent.. One aim of a fully considered DfMA strategy is to enable smooth running of the construction site.

To create a well-orchestrated assembly line with productive workers carrying out pre-determined, standardised and well-understood tasks in predictable timeframes..

In short, we want construction sites to be more like factories.. Off-site and modular construction: are factories really all that great?.Understanding these processes seems like an obvious element in laboratory design, but members within the client team often have differing opinions as to the scope.. A good client will always call on the expertise of the lab users - the scientists - to help define the brief.

Meeting with those users to understand the processes being undertaken is fundamental to delivering a successful laboratory design project.However, this can lead to budget issues; the laboratory designer must evaluate the costs of the users’ requests against the functionality of the lab to determine the scope.

Some clients will have a very clear scope, especially if the lab is an expansion or extension of an existing process, but some clients will need help in creating the scope, especially for new processes.It should also be noted that users often have a fixed solution in mind based on what they have done in the past - their solution may not be the best for the laboratory design project, and it is our job to challenge their assumptions and offer alternative, perhaps better, solutions..