Lamont doesn’t believe it’s necessarily the best process.. On the other side of things, there are governments trying to lead the path to innovation.

The goal was to develop a kit-of-parts approach that could be implemented with manufacturing processes, assembled in standardised ways, in standardised environments.That still exists, but the Hub is now aware of the need to look at other and bigger elements as well, such as information management..

The Construction Innovation Hub is interested in how we can use data more effectively, and how it can be interoperable, reused in different ways by different parties, and throughout the life of an asset.The Hub will continue to explore how to develop platform construction (P-DfMA), and how people can benefit from it, with an aim of developing guides and rule books, but it’s also now looking beyond modern methods of construction (whether you call that platform construction, offsite, or DfMA), at traditional construction as well.It’s viewing things at an ecosystem level and bringing them all together with elements like the Value Toolkit, which is there to help everyone, but will specifically help clients make better, value based decisions using consistent processes and approaches..

The act of combining that with all of the different approaches to delivering buildings means we’re able to progress delivery, while looking towards the long-term as well.The Construction Innovation Hub has a year left, during which time it will need to create impact and get the necessary information to prove value.

However, realistically, it’s going to take a decade or more to really embed these approaches, and for parallel developments to share data and information that really demonstrates value.

This will in turn enable clients to make better choices and achieve better delivery of buildings.. Progressing the future of construction.Creating sustainable data centres.

The biggest environmental impact of data centres is in their use of power and water for cooling, but they are also heavy in terms of embedded carbon.Carbon is embedded in the structure of buildings as everyone knows, but in data centres significantly more so in the M&E equipment within them.

As we optimise the geometry and layout of the structure, plant and systems we can have a positive effect on the amount of embodied carbon in the building, structure and systems.. Our more sustainable approach to close coupling and integration increases efficiency in cooling and distribution losses and also lessens the carbon intensive materials used in these systems.. Our industrialisation and digital design approach allows us to quantify this carbon content during design, and minimise the content through optimisation and materials selection.It means our clients can make arrangements for carbon offsetting prior to the data centre facility being handed over.. We continue to investigate and take opportunities to make use of the heat that is generated by the cooling of data centres.