Defining the Need.
The DfMA designer finds the most suitable innovations in the MMC toolkit (or develops new innovations) to meet a project’s unique challenges..There are many construction innovations that can be considered MMC.
The UK’s Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) recently established a Joint Industry Working Group on MMC which proposed the following categorisation: 3D primary structural systems, 2D primary structural systems, Non-system components, Additive Manufacturing, Assemblies and sub-assemblies, Material and Product Innovations and Site Process Innovations.This categorisation is quite diverse and includes a range of pre-manufactured and pre-assembled systems but also non-system components, site-based material innovations and process innovations..There is no fixed list of MMC methods in each category.
There is great scope for the construction industry to innovate and develop new MMC methods to expand the toolkit and enhance the DfMA designer’s ability to achieve benefits on future construction projects..Under the MHCLG categorisation, volumetric modular construction (known in Singapore as Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction or PPVC and in Hong Kong as Modular Integrated Construction or MiC) is an example of a 3D primary structural system..
In addition to volumetric solutions, many other different MMC methods including flat-pack and componentised systems are primarily prefabricated and are often grouped under the umbrella term “Offsite”..
The future of construction: not just components.However, it’s also due to our simple desire to create the best buildings we can; those which promote health and well-being for occupants, and are comfortable, durable and safe to use.. WELL building standards and passive design.
As in so many other areas of our lives, COVID-19 has created new challenges within the architecture and design space, with clients now regularly requesting COVID-secure design.The idea of designing for COVID is very compatible with sustainable design’s broader focus on health and wellbeing, and ties in nicely with the WELL Building Standard.
This American rating system, launched in 2013 and now in the UK, challenges the built environment from a wellness perspective, while the UK’s earlier environmental assessment method, BREEAM, also places some attention on things like thermal comfort and air volumes.In the case of designing for COVID, the most obvious starting point is to look at the airflow of a building — how it might move through an office floor plate, for example.