MEP has a short lifespan compared with other elements and as such it is even more important to consider the whole life impact of services, alongside the operational carbon impact..
Established formats such as BCF already allow for rich data sharing (although they are not always used to achieve this).The task that lies ahead – and the project that will fundamentally reshape the landscape – is to define shared underlying rules that will allow the existing parts to connect, and facilitate the creation of new applications to plug the gaps and create onward connections.. Impact on key planning roles.
A digitised planning process will not replace humans with computers.Creating standardised data or the means of standardising existing data across the planning process will enable us to automate those elements which are machine-readable (eg to assess whether standard information supplied by the architect/designer is complete and compliant), and then transparent decision-making by planners.(And by extension – this can encompass building control, health and safety and other types of compliance checking.).
This degree of automation will not remove the requirement for human judgement and discretion in planning decisions.The purpose of digitisation is to facilitate the process by reducing the burden on those people of large amounts of admin and tedious, repetitive tasks that can be done better by machines than humans.. Benefits for architects:.
A digitised planning process will involve a change in the way architects are required to produce some information on their designs, and it will enforce a rigour and consistency in the technical elements of designs (which does not imply or require any constraint on creativity).
This is not a huge departure, however: rigour in approach is good practice, and the information required is already largely included in BIM models..Standardisation makes future maintenance easier.
Where clients want the variability and flexibility is in the massing of the building, the articulation of the material choice and facade design.. We worked very hard with clients in the early stages to make sure that the construction Platforms we developed have enough variability in the areas which will facilitate maximum benefit.We want to have a Design to Value process which achieves exactly what is desired..
Tier 1 and the supply chain.Another benefit we see from DfMA construction is the evolution of a more direct relationship between the customer and their supply chain partners, cutting down on transactional costs and eliminating a lot of inefficiency.