While this has since evolved, the use of a Reference Design continues to be a central part of their strategy to deliver schemes across the UK..
Bringing up the B2 Atlantic Yards project, Amy Marks explains that the problems caused by the module frames not being reset when needed is an easily fixable issue to learn from, not a reason to write off prefab altogether.. For example, lessons learned from the earlier Victoria Hall project in Wolverhampton (which saw tolerance issues between the modules and core structure of the building), did inspire a shift from concrete to structural steel frames on Atlantic Yards.. Further, while she believes it’s possible to achieve tolerances, she says that not every process (ie.every contract, every scope, every specification) is currently set up for accurate tolerances.
This needs to change, she says, or what we’re aiming to do will be nearly impossible.. “You can't have the same behaviour and think you're going to have some dramatically different result (that's going to be great) all of a sudden.’.The reality is that making these changes offers a solution to many of the problems we’re facing as an industry at the moment, including poor productivity, low value, excessive amounts of waste, and carbon emissions.We need to find a way to facilitate this shift to industrialised construction because almost nothing is coming out in the way we intended it, Marks says, particularly in terms of cost, certainty, and schedule..
Still, switching the whole ecosystem to support industrialised construction represents a very difficult challenge..Starting with DfMA.
Marks feels one beneficial change would come from the construction industry committing more broadly to seeking guidance from manufacturing professionals.
Currently, that isn’t often happening.Due to the need for power resilience, sites would need to have some arrangement of N+1 power units – if each unit is too large then the investment costs would be simply too high.
The modularity of SMRs and suitability to support DC loads will be important.. Licencing and regulation of nuclear power.Small modular reactors are looking to address some of the licensing and regulation issues with repeatable modular design.. Based upon conversations and work with the small nuclear development ecosystem, there was a stated view that an industrialised modular nuclear offering is 20 years in the future.
This view is in stark contrast to some who believe we will see offerings in three to five years.The difference may be in the maturity of the technology.
(Editor: Best Tools)