Another interesting thing about Design to Value, is that it’s very suited to uncertainty.
explodes the possibilities for transforming efficiency.. KatalystDI’s system gathers construction data from deep in the supply chain, analyses it, and builds it into a new collaborative way of working.. 2.Too often the ‘now’ trumps the ‘future state’.. We know construction costs have spiralled and variable costs have made the industry think too short-term.
This creates ripples in the supply chain and a focus on immediate, urgent problems.. We need to implement more long-term planning to prevent common issues happening repeatedly.This will be challenging, but as time goes on and datasets improve, reactivity will get quicker, and the process will stabilise as construction supply chain information becomes more freely available.. 3.Sadly, we don’t have a ‘truth serum’ but improving transparency and consistency of supply chain data improves productivity and planning.. At the moment, suppliers and contractors fix certain problems and course-correct without ever needing to be transparent.. We need a platform that integrates different data sets from different suppliers so we can see and trend what’s going on within the supply chain and create more formal accountability on information being reported..
Bringing data into one place and organising it around packages will give owners a single pane of glass through which to visualise what’s going on between the planning side and the production side of the supply chain.. A deeper understanding of the supply chain enables everyone to see patterns in the availability of products, to ask the right questions, and to plan better.. 4.Standardising areas of variance and stepping away from totally bespoke designs is key..
The perfect future is a ‘data clearing house’ where minor design modifications to better align with supply chain data can transform productivity..
The key to achieving this is better communication between owners and suppliers, where the supply chain can offer equivalent alternatives and remove some ‘bespokeness’ from the process..It is based on the understanding that comparable built assets share many common characteristics in the dimensions and requirements of their core elements – floor-to-ceiling heights, for example, or how to connect vertical and horizontal structural elements..
Similar to how flat-pack furniture uses standard parts and assembly techniques as integral elements in a wide range of products, P-DfMA designs buildings using a standardised ‘kit of parts’ that can be efficiently combined, while still producing highly customised structures.. By liberating architects from the mechanics of construction, it allows them to invest more of their time to where they can really add value – in creativity.. Optimisation as with other systems that use standardised elements, P-DfMA focused on the optimisation of each one, knowing that the multiple applications of each element will repay massively.. Optimising a standard beam so that it requires the minimum amount of steel, or reducing the depth of the floor slab to minimise the amount of concrete required, delivers substantial reductions in both carbon and cost when applied across entire sites, and even more so over multiple sites..In the true spirit of.
Design to Value., optimisation of elements (not just beams and floor slabs) includes as many value drivers as possible, from environmental sustainability to the health and safety of the workforce (and indeed to the shortage of numbers in that workforce) to cost.. As a result of optimisation, automation and standardisation, the P-DfMA approach increases productivity, while reducing carbon (both embodied and in operation), construction time and cost.. Against Landsec’s typical benchmarks, the Forge is forecast to achieve significant gains in all of those areas..