Articles:

The repowering coal strategy will co-locate an advanced heat source next to an existing coal-fired power plant, decommissioning the coal boiler, while the rest of the plant, including the steam turbine, power island and existing transmission, remain in operation.. To support the repowering coal initiative, Bryden Wood is developing a standardised, scalable building system, configuring the design in such a way as to be able to meet any kind of site or plant requirements, while also accommodating a range of different heat sources.

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..

Achieving Net-Zero.The Forge is designed to be the first commercial building in the UK to comply with the UK Green Building Council’s definition of a net-zero carbon building in both construction and operation..

This is delivered through the rigorous application of a raft of new and existing principles throughout design, manufacture, construction and operation, applying the value driver of reducing embodied carbon at every opportunity.

Given the amount of carbon generated by construction, the potential benefits of adopting this approach at scale are enormous..A central recommendation is an attempt to increase the prevalence of post-occupancy evaluations conducted by architects, to enable mapping of intangible impacts such as social value.

The current, alarming, lack of collection by architects of real-life data on the impact of their schemes suggests that this societal feedback loop is not necessarily being designed into future schemes..Within a wider context, the construction industry itself is fundamental to the implementation of these social values.

It is central to the delivery of places in which people live, work and socialise, in addition to the connections between these places and communities.Measured in the UK, the construction sector is the sixth largest in terms of employment and is responsible for over 12% of the UK’s 5.9m small and medium-sized enterprises.