In the US alone (about 1/3 of the global market), over 40 million square feet of lab and R&D space is currently under construction, with the global life sciences market forecast to grow on average 13% per year between now and 2030.. Fast Lab is now in development, and we are interested in working with innovative, forward-thinking life science businesses and developers to meet this growing demand…The life sciences are undergoing a rapid transformation fuelled by a convergence in maturing technologies, scientific breakthroughs, demographics, and geopolitical trends – much of which accelerated during the pandemic.
The manufactured brackets that create the interfaces between beams and columns use very simple standardise tasks (bolted together vs requiring specialist steel erectors) ensuring a level of consistency normally unachievable in traditional construction..Brackets are designed in a way that they can only be installed correctly (referred to as ‘poka-yoke’ in manufacturing) making it impossible for an error to occur or making the error immediately obvious.
In addition, the brackets are colour coded, with each colour relating to a specific condition, e.g.end of bay, base of column etc.Each colour is also liked to a series of standard tasks, such as a number of bolts and setting on their torque wrench.
So, the operatives need only match the colour with the type of interface.Platforms also simplify installation down into a series of simple, repeatable, highly productive, activities, which make the sequence of work entirely predictable, the quality assured and the speed of assembly vastly increased.. Key insight.
Consider the lifecycle of builds beyond completion: handing over all the information required to preserve the integrity of the build.
Industry challenge.In 2019, with Landsec and Easi-Space, we were successful in bidding for funding from UKRI to support a collaborative project to research and test automation in construction.
This is our work on Platforms for offices and commercial developments..This work is now a key focus for the CIH, and it is the heart of the demonstrator project that has won this latest funding from UKRI.
The close collaboration between Landsec, Easi-Space, the Bryden Wood design team and a new supply chain, is now applying the P-DfMA design and prototype learnings to a live Landsec project in Sumner Street, central London..This development will be two office buildings around an internal courtyard, rising to nine storeys and covering a total of 135,000 sq ft.