It also seems likely that within the grand scheme of things on the horizon, the digital work will take longer than the physical aspects, and we should be conscious of that.. Miranda Sharp reminds us that digitising planning and the wider built environment won’t be easy to do.

On our current project for Landsec, we’ve witnessed the benefits of prototyping everything in advance at our testing facility in Ropley.This certainty from testing should continue to reduce the risk profile, making us more attractive to investors.. What role does government play in the future of construction Platforms?.

Since mandating BIM back in 2011, the UK government has played a crucial role in the effort to turn a Platform approach to construction into a reality.There’s been a real consistency to their approach and they have continued to focus their spending power to promote Modern Methods of Construction.Moreover, the Infrastructure Projects Authority (IPA) who, to some extent, hold the purse strings around infrastructure spending, have also been pushing the construction Platforms agenda..

In Asia, we’ve seen the Singapore government encouraging ‘Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction’ (PPVC), and we’ve also seen a focus on Modular Integrated Construction (MIC) in Hong Kong.Both markets have geographical constraints.

Singapore is very land-constrained and has limited ‘internal’ modular manufacturing capacity, but imports have good access to the Malaysian and Indonesian markets.

On the other hand, Hong Kong has potential access to Chinese manufacturers.Labs need a higher air change rate than offices or other building types, which means lots of ductwork to and from the lab.

This is exacerbated if there are fume cupboards, as the discharges go to the roof and discharge vertically.The discharge stacks for these fans can be quite high, so we may have to design roof supports for flues.. One unusual issue we encountered was a vibration requirement for an X-ray machine.

This is further evidence of the importance of understanding the purpose of the laboratory equipment being installed early in the lab design process..Finally, we must be aware of how the laboratory equipment is to be delivered to the site.