However, were this building to be designed now to achieve LETI/RIBA 2030 targets further learnings need to be taken forward..
We designed the building, it went out to tender and is currently in construction.It’s due to be completed later this year, with commissioning taking until 2023.
We are continuing to work on the project as Design Guardian.. A complete mechanical and electrical engineering solution.Over the years, design and build of complex facilities has become piecemeal.Contracts are split up between designers and contractors, and everyone tries to minimise or pass on risk.
The trouble with this is that it destroys value for the client – it removes the big picture view, which is really important, especially on highly complex and intricate jobs like laboratories or some of the others I’ve described here.Some of the time, we find ourselves having to fix work that has been poorly conceived and carried out because of this way of working.
Systems that simply don’t work.
We want to take on entire contracts in order to be able to deliver the complete solution that is best for our clients.In our team, we only ever apply technology when it is appropriate to the problem at hand.
We have never, for example, had to use a Machine Learning solution, because we’ve never had a problem that it’s been the right technology for..Nor do we think that the future of robotics in construction is in building robots to do jobs that we, or they, shouldn’t be doing in the first place.
Technology is not fairy dust that you sprinkle onto a problem to sort it out.You need to assess the entire process and engage actively with technology to see where – or whether – it will add value.
(Editor: Slim Gaming)