Latency requirements, local regulation, and land constraints mean that ‘cookie-cutter’ single-storey facilities are no longer the only game in town.
Moving to a value-based process requires us to be braver.It requires more innovation..
Using process design thinking to highlight efficiency.One thing which happens when working this way, is that we’re forced to approach projects differently.Design to Value offers unique benefits but can also reveal some uncomfortable truths.. As an example: we were evaluating a brief to build a new carbonated drinks factory in Africa.
The initial projected cost of £70 million was determined to be prohibitively expensive, and so the client asked for this to be reduced.Our team went through a process of evaluation and analysis.
We adapted and optimised the factory size and construction techniques in order to substantially and successfully reduce the cost.. Something even more interesting happened in the process, however.
As we began to evaluate the facility, we began to ask different types of questions.- Engage early with contractors to plan deconstruction scenarios and reduce waste sent to landfill.. - Adopt circular economy strategies for deconstruction and reuse, including:.
o Upcycling materials to put back in the local supply chain.. o Adopting the principles of buildings as material banks, urban mining, and use of material passports.. o Using bolted connections and smaller structural grids, which facilitate disassembly, cutting (if needed) and deconstruction.. Use membranes to decouple the slab from the screed and explore alternatives, such as dry screeds, sand and gravel screeds, floor dense boards, particle boards or cardboard and sand layers.. Procurement of timber and distance.Currently, most timber used in the UK for construction is manufactured and imported from mainland Europe.
Depending on the distance, this can have an impact on the total carbon emissions.. Our response is to:.- Conduct detailed whole-life carbon analysis of buildings, including harvesting, processing, manufacturing, and transportation to end-of-life disposal.. - Prioritise locally produced engineered timber and strategically select timber that can be shipped instead of transported by road.. At Bryden Wood, we have explored local sourcing of engineered timber.