In northern Europe, there is a precedent in community heating schemes, whereas in the UK this has never been common.
Bringing the construction industry up to speed with DES.Research in the sector has found that while construction-related spending is 13% of global GDP, productivity has been flat for decades – with an ageing workforce and additional post-Brexit losses affecting the UK.
Similarly, construction accounts for a large portion of global waste and carbon emissions, but is yet to see large improvements.With Discrete Event Simulation previously a niche activity requiring a specific skill set and often costly software, the industry has not been able to see and leverage the benefits, which include predicting the full effects of a project – whether related to efficiency, cost or the environment – until site work is completed.. A recent shift in the construction landscape has been an increasing focus on Design for Manufacture and Assembly, or DfMA, which aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the construction centre, improving productivity, reducing waste and aiming for net-zero carbon emissions.Bryden Wood have been pioneers of DfMA and successfully delivered benefits around the world with Platform Construction (P-DfMA) and other types of solutions [.
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DfMA itself can be based on a set of repeatable elements and processes to derive gains, and ultimately could transform the construction industry so that it more closely resembles manufacturing.building sustainably hereThe difficulties in articulating and quantifying the essence of good design and its wider benefits to society have meant that design is often undervalued, both in the procurement of new development and in the planning decision-making process.
As a result, large urban developments often fail to meet the aspirations of policymakers.Architects have also been reluctant to focus conversations on the economic merits of their schemes, or the political issues behind them, instead focusing their descriptions and appraisals of work in mainly aesthetic terms.
This has meant the discussion misses key challenges regarding what schemes are providing, or lacking, in terms of the economic and social value in architecture.. Part of the difficulty in embedding this design quality throughout the design process may be a result of the fragmentation of projects into stages, and the atomisation of roles in recent decades.Individuals are often responsible only for small chunks of the process and wider design, with little collaboration between parties.