Construction platforms and Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA): unlocking the future of construction using digital, data and manufacturing

Of the building’s general layout, Kirsty Cobden comments that usefully, ‘Everything goes round in a circle.

The metals, once purified, don’t look like much – a grey powder – but they are hugely expensive..They take a product like a catalytic converter, and the first process is to smelt it.

They start with just 0.3% of valuable metal by volume and after smelting, it's still a very small quantity of metal, but it’s at a size that they can put it in the back of a truck to be taken to the refinery where the valuable metals are extracted.. Their present refinery was built in 1965, and is in need of replacement.Our first job was to look at all sorts of options about where they might build a new refinery, from the UK to Europe to Asia.For a number of reasons, the UK was the best option.

Then of course we had to find a suitable location in the UK and masterplan the site.The conclusion we came to was to knock down a series of existing buildings close to the current facility.

This would allow us to build the new refinery while keeping the old one going for as long as possible, before transferring operations to the new one.. As you can imagine, a refinery is a hugely technical building and the M&E element is the most significant part of the project.

We designed the building, it went out to tender and is currently in construction.Build Less: optimise the building’s form, structure, structural grid, WWR and DfMA components; recommend the use of durable materials, design-out basements and false ceilings (exposed soffit); design spaces which are adaptable and can be easily deconstructed..

Build Clever: specify low carbon materials with a focus on the recycled content of steel and concrete and the use of timber; maximise the recycled content of finishes, use reclaimed floors and explore system’s rental; where possible use low GWP refrigerants and avoid VRF systems..Build Efficiently: implement innovative construction strategies such as Modern methods of Construction (MMC) and use a DfMA approach to reduce waste onsite..

Offset: Any remaining carbon should be offset via recognised carbon offset schemes.Offsets used should be publicly disclosed.. An example of design strategies that follow the proposed embodied carbon hierarchy is shown in Figure 5..