Never in our history has the construction industry been so ripe for disruption to its practices and processes. On behalf of Seismic Group, Richard Crosby explains how a platform approach and offsite technology can play a central part in that change.
The availability of technology combined with rising prices and skills shortages create a culture for change. The need to meet net zero carbon targets together with worldwide economic uncertainty could be a driving force to transform outmoded construction methods.
The faster pace of change means we not only need to view our built environment in a different way, but we also need to deliver it differently, more efficiently, to better value, and higher sustainability standards. The Construction Playbook sets the guidelines to facilitate change in one of the UKs largest industries.
The guidelines present an opportunity to change mindsets and cultures in how to procure, design, and deliver our social infrastructure for the betterment of all. Construction is an industry not known for its appetite for change. Business models have developed around processes and practices that have been around for centuries. It is a huge task but if we all embrace these guidelines change is certainly possible.
The construction industry must be the only major industry that has not embraced platforms in some way shape or form. Almost everything we use today is based on a platform, our phones, our cars, our clothes, even our kitchens, so why not our buildings? The Platform Rule Book together with the Construction Playbook is a real eye opener for what is not just possible, but what is actually starting to happen.
The Seismic Platform
Although the automotive industry is often cited as an example of how construction should become more efficient, the financial model is simply not comparable. Construction companies and their suppliers cannot afford to spend billions on the development of individual platforms before producing a single product, but it can get there through a collaborative and iterative process. To help facilitate this we have developed the Seismic platform which is the primary case study within the Platform Rulebook and qualifies on all eight requirements to be officially termed as a platform.
Originally developed by a collaboration of industry partners; McAvoy Group, Algeco and Tata Steel together with academic associates, The Manufacturing Technology Center (MTC), Specific (Swansea University and The National Composites Centre) and funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) – the Seismic Group has been established to make the patented technology widely available and to encourage participation to help facilitate a platform approach across the industry. Critical in doing so is engagement of the light gauge steel industry which is driving the adoption of modern methods of construction (MMC) across all sectors.
The latest revision to the Playbook – 'Embracing the Circular Economy' certainly plays to the advantage of steel. The use of a patented connector block supplied by Seismic Group via a network of approved suppliers negates the need for hot rolled steel sections other than the vertical posts and significantly reduces the volume of steel and labour required.
It enables cross-market and cross sector connectivity. The Seismic Group offers management consultancy services to assist in its adoption. Benefits of the platform include the standardisation of dimensions that de-risk projects for clients who would prefer not to commit to a contractor until the design is fully developed and costs are known, thus taking a greater share of the traditional market.
The Seismic Group are now working with the light steel frame industry to provide the floor cassettes to both tier 1 and tier 2 MMC contractors with particular interest from volumetric modular providers. The cold formed sections creating 2D floor cassettes can be provided fully accessible or in a kit of parts ready for assembly. The Seismic Group launched to the market in line with the introduction of the Platform Rulebook and has already seen huge interest particularly from client organisations and advisors with large scale projects that are too big for any one provider or those who do not want to be contracted to one specialist before prices are agreed.
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