CONSTRUCTION
It’s important to note that a large proportion of the healthcare estate is not, in fact, clinical space. Analysis of the forward pipeline of healthcare projects (see the Construction Innovation Hub’s Defining the Need report, at
https://tinyurl.com/yxsj9ckc) shows that less than 50 per cent of the built area is clinical space. Most is for ancillary functions such as circulation, waiting, storage, plant, changing, and dining. All these factors combined mean there is no single MMC solution that can deliver against all needs. Instead, a typical scheme requires a range of MMC solutions. (Fig 1: Data visualisation across the healthcare estate).
Different types of MMC
The quadrant in Figure 2 maps out the ‘landscape’ of delivery methods, from ‘manufactured’ (most efficient), to ‘traditional’ construction (least efficient), with intermediate forms including ‘components’, and ‘volumetric’. Looking at each in turn:
Manufactured
This approach is similar to the hugely successful approach adopted in the automotive industry. It achieves a high degree of customisation, while maintaining standardisation of components and processes. In the motor sector, using common ‘platforms’ of interoperable components across whole ranges of vehicles creates economies of scale, highly productive manufacturing and assembly processes, and long-term partnerships with an engaged supply chain.
This platform approach is now being applied in the construction sector. We are identifying features such as floor heights and structural spans that are
Steel weight
110 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
7
n Reinforcement n Steelwork
100 17 50 27 Steel frame Concrete frame Platform 2
0.40 0.35 0.30 0.25 0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0
shared across different types of building (e.g. schools, apartments, and healthcare facilities), to reveal the ‘kit’ of standardised parts that can be used to deliver assets across multiple sectors. These parts are readily available from existing suppliers, and can be assembled easily and intuitively, in countless ways, to sustainably create a huge range of spaces. The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) says a manufactured approach offers: ‘the greatest opportunities to improve delivery efficiency and boost productivity. This approach enables high levels of customisation by developing and using standard components and assemblies, but follows production processes, embedding best practice from the manufacturing and automotive sectors into construction delivery’.
Components
Components are assemblies that are manufactured offsite, but require installation on-site; they may be used in conjunction with:
Efficiency 20%
Volumetric Standard solution, Standard process
Efficiency 40% Manufactured
Bespoke solution, Standard process
n ‘traditional’ elements, e.g. prefabricated façade or fit-out elements that are then fixed to a traditional superstructure;
Efficiency 0%
Traditional Bespoke solution, Bespoke process
Least productive Low High
Proportion of projects using modern methods of construction
Figure 2: Forms of delivery, as taken from the Infrastructure and Projects Authority’s Transforming Infrastructure Performance, published December 2017.
n other components, for example where an asset is made up of panelised structure, façade, and fit-out elements, combined with, say, toilet pods.
Efficiency 10%
Components Standard solution, Bespoke process
Components may include: n Panelised components – sometimes called ‘2D’ or ‘flat pack’. These can include floors, roofs, facades, internal walls etc., often incorporating structure, finishes, and insulation;
n Ceiling ‘cassettes’
incorporating mechanical and electrical distribution, shut-off valves, and firestopping etc. n ‘Pods’ containing en suite toilets and showers etc.
Volumetric modular
Comprises large parts of an asset (or even a complete building) that are fully manufactured and finished offsite, generally inside a large industrial facility, then brought to site and lifted into position for final connections and sealing up between modules.
Traditional This is the current construction approach.
Platforms are the answer Having considered all forms of MMC, the UK Government has chosen to focus on Manufactured Platforms, creating solutions that benefit from the experience of the manufacturing sector, and will overcome construction’s long-standing issues with time, cost, and quality. While not in the healthcare sector, a current project on site for Landsec, the UK’s largest commercial property development and investment company,
Concrete weight n Concrete
0.35 0.17 0.20
Steel frame
Concrete frame
Platform 2 Figure 3: Comparison of steel and concrete weights in traditional forms of construction vs. a healthcare structural platform. March 2021 Health Estate Journal 39
Proportion of Low High pre-manufactured value
Average (m3
/m2
)
Average (kg/m2
)
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