From manufacturing plant to construction site, we investigate how Laing O'Rourke is spearheading change in the construction industry through design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) at their pioneering Explore Industrial Park manufacturing facility.
Laing O'Rourke has invested over £100 million in the Explore Industrial Park, with the aim of 70% of the projects the company directly controls to be produced through DfMA. This should see a corresponding 60% reduction in onsite labour and a 30% reduction in build times for most projects.
Explore Manufacturing gives Laing O’Rourke a unique self-delivery capability that leads the construction industry in driving greater levels of design standardisation and construction quality. The business is made up of Explore Industrial Park in Steetley and CHt Manufacturing in Oldbury. The company’s manufacturing operations transform traditional construction methods into modern processes of assembly, using lean automation and quality assurance systems.
It is these characteristics that recently attracted the Constructing Excellence (CE) Offsite Forum – a group of ‘thought-leading’ members from across the supply chain – clients, industry and users who share a vision for change through innovation and collaboration, to visit the state-of-the-art precast manufacturing facility in Steetley at the end of September. This visit is the latest in the quarterly offsite manufacturing visits that the Forum undertake as part of the wider education and networking initiative.
The challenges facing construction are well documented. The combination of more demanding clients and stakeholders, deteriorating quality of traditional build techniques and increasing skills shortages mean the industry has reached a critical crossroad.
With a call for a step-change in productivity and build quality, offsite and modular techniques offer the most realistic solution to this problem. The ideas behind this approach have existed for many years, however the entrenched self-interest and short-termism that characterises construction has stifled its wide-spread application. As the industry exemplar, Laing O’Rourke is making the necessary investments to create real critical mass in the delivery of pre-assembly and modular solutions.
Collaborative Approach
Through its innovative DfMA methodology, Laing O’Rourke are driving increased
productivity of the construction process, tangible quality improvements and the
associated reduction in true costs.
As a result, more client organisations than ever before are recognising the need for innovative building techniques that are safer, cleaner and more efficient, minimising disruption, guaranteeing quality and cost, and critically saving time.
Working collaboratively with their extensive customer base of public and private sector clients and the architecture, design and delivery supply chain, it is clear that Laing O’Rourke are driving this value-based agenda to become more widely understood and applied, creating the mechanisms which will enable offsite and modular design thinking to become the future industry standard for construction solutions worldwide.
These principles align perfectly with the Constructing Excellence core objectives of creating a platform which stimulates debate and drives much needed change in the construction sector. Laing O’Rourke’s manufacturing and modular solutions are transforming traditional construction methodologies into a modern process of component-based assembly through optimising DfMA principles – including the social, environment and economic benefits. These include:
- Safer, cleaner delivery with improved health and safety performance onsite and a safer, operational asset over its lifetime
- Higher quality construction with guaranteed quality assurance levels achieved on the end-product
- Speed – innovative construction projects delivered up to 50% faster than traditional construction, enabling an earlier return on investment
- Standardise the invisible, customise the visible – an extensive range of interior and exterior options ensure complete design flexibility
- Earlier adoption of the latest innovations, fully tested and approved prior to commissioning
- Greater sustainability through advantages in thermal and environmental performance, lower operational maintenance costs and less waste generation in the construction phase
- Less waste and greater onsite recycling of materials delivers a ‘greener’ construction outcome
- Greater efficiency in site logistics with up to 90% fewer vehicle movements reducing disruption to the surrounding communities
- State-of-the-art manufacturing facilities adopting lean automation processes utilising the latest technologies, providing the necessary scale and capacity to meet all project demands.
Digital Engineering
The Laing O’Rourke digital engineering and building information modelling (BIM)
offering is tailored to meet the requirements of their clients and it is this
aspect of the factory tour that most impressed the CE Offsite Forum group. Laing O’Rourke deliver digital
engineering solutions to enable high quality data management for effective
decision making and critical to the company’s DfMA agenda. Digital engineering supports greater collaboration and more
informed decision-making by providing a central data source. This helps create
more unified delivery teams, while allowing the supply chain to see beyond
their own activities to a more holistic view of the client’s objectives.
Fundamental to Laing O’Rourke achieving true digital engineering is having the right blend of technical and cultural platforms. An inclusive environment based on openness, co-operation and knowledge-sharing that is underpinned by consistent processes and access points, allowing everyone involved in a project to navigate freely around the model and explore the data. In this respect, Laing O’Rourke is helping to lead the digital engineering agenda, training forward-thinking project leaders to embed it across the company’s culture. At the same time, delivery teams – both on and offsite – are driving digital engineering into their core business processes.
Product & Process Engineering
Laing O’Rourke is revolutionising how they evolve the built environment
within challenging constraints – driven by their investment in and development
of their DfMA approach. As pioneers
of offsite construction the company has driven this concept far beyond its
earliest iteration. Once little more than the production of precast concrete
components, today Laing O’Rourke is delivering an extensive range of modular
solutions through their sophisticated manufacturing capabilities. These
products range from columns, beams and sleepers to smart walls and building
systems – all provided to a cost, time and specification that traditional
construction processes cannot compete with.
Through early engagement in the design process, the DfMA approach allows the company to address construction and engineering challenges before work begins onsite – instilling confidence in methodologies, programme and budget.
Using automated processes to manufacture construction components in a controlled offsite environment, DfMA allows the company to calculate materials requirements with absolute precision. This way, the industry’s most sustainable construction solution allows the elimination of waste from the outset.
Laing O’Rourke clients are experiencing the benefits of DfMA on projects ranging from schools to hospitals, luxury hotels in city-centres and mining infrastructure in remote areas, and it clear that there is enormous potential to move this approach far beyond the building sector, applying modular methodologies to large-scale infrastructure schemes – informing the construction of power generation facilities and other utilities. While these principles have been common practice in the energy and aerospace sectors for well over a decade, they are relatively new to construction. Should it become the process of choice though, Laing O’Rourke believe it will transform the construction industry – permanently.
For more information visit: www.laingorourke.com
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