without regular checking-in; it is like leaving an AI-robot in-charge of your children.
What is a Reference Design and why use one?.Many major clients have national or global rollouts that are happening at a rapid pace.. Often these clients have to procure a bespoke design for every site, introducing unnecessary design cycles and complexity that adds cost and time to construction projects and ongoing operations..
Yet, from our experience, these clients have a very well-informed view on how their asset needs to perform and the layouts and designs that deliver their operational outcomes.This knowledge and understanding lends itself to a repeatable solution that can comprise c.80% of the asset.. We call this a ‘Reference Design’: a highly optimised, site agnostic ‘core design’ for a portfolio client.Typically, a Reference Design will contain a number of repeated elements at varying scales (from key equipment to whole assets) that can be configured in a number of different ways (with more or less flexibility in how these are arranged depending on the asset type).. For some assets, the Reference Design can become the fixed design.
The house blocks we designed for the.Ministry of Justice prisons rollout.
are a good example; highly standardised, they are identical on every site, only the number and orientation changes and is dictated by the prison population and aspect/prospect of the site.
The UK prisons rollout is reporting dramatic reductions in delivery schedule with much improved certainty on just the second project to use this approach..From our digital design configurator apps for schools and housing, to our transformational, cross-sector work with platform construction (P-DfMA), our goal is to use smart tech to advance a better built environment.
We’re always excited to talk to other industry players who share our goals, focus and passion for modern methods of construction, driving improvement by embracing change and leaning into construction tech.. We caught up with Craig Lamont, Chief Commercial Officer for Australian digital specialists, asBuilt, and found out how they’re using construction technology in smart and unconventional ways onsite.Lamont doesn’t believe construction’s lack of digitalisation is caused by a lack of industry uptake of technology.
Instead, he thinks it’s because the industry is oversubscribed to the idea of finding a silver bullet to solve all the ills of a construction site.asBuilt believes that the solutions needed by the sector are already available, and that by unlocking sites via technological empowerment of the workforce, the use of construction technologies like spatial mapping and IoT, and a shift in thinking toward humanity and long-term value, we have the power to truly advance the industry for the betterment of everyone involved..