James Withey, managing director of Algeco Offsite, looks at the latest developments in offsite construction and outlines why 2023 is the time for widespread adoption of offsite, starting at the planning and design stages
The global construction market is forecast to grow by over 70% by 2025, and with this growth will come significant new opportunities for the UK offsite construction sector.
Yet despite this optimistic picture, developers and specifiers are simultaneously being put under pressure to do much more with less – delivering on challenging quality and sustainability targets while reducing overall project costs and facing rising commodity prices.
Modular, offsite building methods continue to reshape the global construction landscape, and there’s no denying the benefits.
When the UK government published its strategy document Construction 2025, it set out a blueprint for developing the industry, emphasising reducing costs, increasing efficiencies and cutting harmful emissions.
Offsite construction delivers on all of the above. It is even cited in the report itself: “As demand for low carbon and sustainable construction continues to increase, the potential of offsite construction to deliver assets with half the waste and 25% less energy in use will make it an ever more attractive option.”
Maximising efficiencies at every level
There’s a broad consensus across the industry that modular and offsite construction has numerous benefits over traditional methods. It offers a faster way to deliver high-quality new buildings by maximising efficiencies at every level.
Offsite construction leads to a higher quality end product, the better overall performance of the finished building and better value for money due to tighter cost control.
Compliance with Building Regulations is easier to manage, and waste is minimised, making Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) building a more environmentally friendly option.
The approach we have been developing, refining and delivering since the 1950s involves designing and fabricating building components or ‘modules’ offsite in a factory setting before they are transported to the construction site.
As many of the construction stages are completed offsite, the supply chain can be optimised, disruption minimised, and the overall build time reduced by up to 50%.
Innovative Seismic platform
This increased efficiency was just one of the reasons we were recently awarded the contract to build the new Northampton School for Boys.
A combination of our offsite and modular building construction system has been specified for the project, and a total of 210 modules will be supplied to create the main teaching areas. They will be manufactured using the Seismic platform-based construction solution.
In line with the latest government guidance and policy, the Seismic platform was developed to drive a major shift towards a more productive, better quality and lower carbon construction industry.
Developed by a consortium of organisations, including ourselves, this cross-sector platform for construction projects uses the latest in digital and manufacturing technologies.
Enabling contractors to collaborate and benefit from increased efficiencies
The platform facilitates the design, procurement, manufacture and assembly of buildings using standardised and interoperable components and assemblies. It enables contracting authorities to collaborate and benefit from increased efficiencies through the interoperability of building components across different sectors.
This approach can be up to 75% faster and achieves a 47% improvement in value compared with traditional construction techniques.
We see this industry-wide platform supporting more extensive use of offsite and, by deploying the same technology and manufacturing requirements across a portfolio of projects, it will grow production volumes. In turn, that will deliver greater economies of scale, which will appeal to developers seeking portfolio-wide value solutions.
As a business, we have demonstrated how this portfolio approach can achieve efficiency benefits through the work we are currently carrying out on multi-residential projects for the Ministry of Defence (Beacon Barracks in Stafford and Kinloss Barracks in Forres), along with the Ministry of Justice.
At the same time, this approach realises continuous improvement across successive large-scale projects. The Northampton Boys School and Laurence Calvert Academy projects are good examples of this, with both using the Seismic platform.
Adopting offsite manufacturing will help to achieve government targets
There’s no doubt that developers, planners and manufacturers across the board are operating in difficult times, and the current economic climate requires us all to achieve more with less. But by adopting efficient approaches such as offsite construction platforms, combined with DfMA and lean manufacturing, the industry will be better able to achieve government targets and reduce costs and emissions, while delivering projects more efficiently.
In short, by adopting offsite construction more widely, and at the planning and design stages, the industry will be well-placed to meet the challenges ahead.
James Withey
Managing director
Algeco Offsite
Tel: +44 (0)808 1082222
www.algeco.co.uk
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