FOCUS
Building risks
goes for material substitutions and contractors, because this mindset kills people
• quality control – a clear chain of authority on builds needs to be established to ensure oversight of the products, installation and construction methods across all trades on site to make sure everything is correct
•
traceability – all components in fabricated systems need to be marked and logged to ensure that, if the worst does happen, the subcontractors and manufacturers involved are held accountable and can work to resolve the problem, so that it doesn’t happen again
•
flexibility in design – architects and clients need to have a greater understanding of the limitations of certain materials and their costs, so there’s less chance of something being specified that will need to be altered at a later date
Quality assurance
We can begin to achieve these smaller changes from the very beginning of the construction process and, in my opinion, we can learn some important lessons from offsite manufacturers.
26 JUNE 2019
www.frmjournal.com
They use monitored and checked components
to make sure their products meet the performance specification and, by introducing quality checks and tests during component assembly in the factory environment, it is fairly simple to develop and implement industry standard certifications,particularly given that everything is managed in one place and that fewer suppliers are dealt with. And of course, when taken to site for
installation, the workforce needs to have the necessary skills, qualifications and up to date knowledge of the products and, most importantly the building as a ‘system’, not just individual components. This is the key and we need to work towards
developing a complete solution using offsite construction; or at the very least, those using traditional methods of construction need to learn from best new practices rather than push against them. Staying stuck in our ways is costing people their lives.
Successful construction
Whether the method of construction is simple panellised or throughwall construction detail, inner or outer face, the most important thing is that the products used are certified and have been fully tested for thermal, acoustic, fire, airtightness and environmental certifications. They must be properly certified through a third party and not self certified. Marking your own homework was always easier!
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