Continuing Professional Development Offsite M&E manufacture
• Why offsite manufacture is becoming more important • What the benefi ts are • How it works in practice
Factory outlet
3D CAD and BIM are making offsite manufacture of M&E modules a compelling alternative for many projects. Steve Tovey, director of Balfour Beatty’s Modular Systems +, outlines how it is taking hold at its projects.
THE APPLICATION of offsite manufacture and assembly of M&E products is gathering pace in the construction of all building types. Of course, this is nothing new: the building services industry was using prefabrication, particularly of pipework services, 30 years ago. But what has changed now, with the increasing need to improve safety standards, quality and compress construction programmes, is the capability and technical skills to convert and break down conventional building services designs into individual products. The development and use of 3D CAD
and recent implementation of Building Information Modelling (BIM) enable projects to be designed with offsite manufacture in mind from the outset. While these processes now give greater
fl exibility and mean that changes in design can be easily accommodated, an early design freeze is essential as any modifi cations during the manufacturing timeline will reduce the signifi cant cost, programme and sustainable benefi ts that offsite manufacture provides. A number of M&E services contractors
now have manufacturing facilities allowing services to be supplied in a modular format. Modular Systems + is the brand under which Balfour Beatty Engineering Services (BBES) develops and manufactures modular mechanical and electrical products ranging from small electrical modular wiring components to multi-service modules and complex, fully operational packaged plant rooms. Utilising purpose built offsite manufacturing facilities such as BBES’s facility in Wednesbury in the west midlands, M&E products can be manufactured and assembled in conditions which greatly improve the ability to deliver innovative and value engineered solutions across all types of
46 | OCTOBER 2013 | CONSTRUCTION MANAGER
Complex, fully operational components can be manufactured offsite
CPD
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68