SPONSORED ROUNDTABLE | OFFSITE MANUFACTURING added that the end-of-life and reusable aspect of materials and products should be considered and designed with this in mind. If we havent got the professional skills and design fraternity to go offsite, it will inhibit clients, and vice versa, said Whitehouse. Clients are critical; they start everything. We need the big, expert clients who have the historical data and experience to inform and improve everything we do, and this is currently missing. Baldock said another obstacle to productive offsite manufacture are the Building Regulations and British standards to which consultants have to adhere. Were finding that the supply chain is coming up against barriers from the consultants, who have design guidance they have to stick to on projects for consistency, he said. We need to get to a point where offsite manufacturing is really productive, is a scalable manufacture-led product, where the design fundamentally changes, and where you work upfront and design to rules that can be quickly adjusted to suit an automated process. This would free up good consultant engineers who can deal with some bigger issues, such as finding clever ways of saving energy and meeting zero carbon targets. If the market volume grows, and 150,000 homes a year are produced, it will be better to have lots of manufacturers that can play a part and produce bits to create, Pennell added. Having this volume enables the scale that allows manufacturers to invest. He likened it to the chicken and egg situation, where we need to get past the small scale were in now. The message of standardising products was emphasised again. Pennell said this approach will help the industry to grow volume and Chair Alex Smith create the ability to justify investment. Otherwise, if were not careful, he added, other successful players in offsite manufacturing such as the Japanese and the Americans will take the market away from the UK. Its understanding where government intervention is and how they will take this forward, said OLeary. Its getting to this commonality, yet getting more standardised. At the moment, were only learning from the things that were successful, or from disasters such as Grenfell. We shouldnt have to get to that point for radical changes to be made. Teague added that this is what happened to containerisation. There is no benefit in reinventing the container, which is what the industry is doing all the time. This is where platform DfMA construction is an interesting development because its taking offsite back to an automotive-chassis approach, he said. This solution allows several typologies to use the same basic components. According to Lock, the two big growth areas for new-build are the private rental sector and affordable housing. He said there is a real appetite and opportunity for a sweeping change in offsite manufacture, and that this sector offers the robustness needed to accelerate prefabrication. However, he warned that we currently have an inconsistent energy strategy across the UK, and this needs to be resolved before we embark on a big push in offsite manufacturing for housing. The collaborative approach is where we need to be looking, said Yorke. I welcome us coming together at a much earlier stage in the design process, and that we focus on what the client is trying to achieve and consider the creative solutions for delivering this. The event ended on an upbeat note, with participants feeling positive about the future of offsite manufacturing, although it will take collaboration, partnership, early intervention, and sharing of knowledge to move forward. With change comes great disruption, said Pennell. There are lots of barriers some regulatory, some insurance, some in the way we procure, and some because the workforce is set up to do it one way. We have to translate those skills into a different way of working. This will require a big reskilling of people and drawing in new talent, added Pennell, who said although it will be a challenge many things were now coming together, including the climate change imperative, resource scarcity, and a need to do things efficiently and for the UK to get the most out of its industries. If we get this right, he said, we can export it, but we have to work more collectively to make it happen. CJ If were not careful, other successful players in offsite manufacturing such as the Japanese and the Americans will take the market away from the UK Neil Pennell Upfront involvement, which includes talking about the solution before we go into detailed design, is crucial, otherwise you miss the opportunity for mass customisation Ian Lock 48 March 2020 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE Mar20 pp44-46, 48 Roundtable.indd 48 21/02/2020 15:00