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The frame then serves as its support for transport purposes, and allows for stacking of multiple units.

The depth and breadth of value achieved is greater, the bigger and more complex the Chip.The more co-dependent elements involved, the more variables and complexity the Chip has to resolve and the wider the implications of the ways in which Chips will optimise the design.

So while an inpatient room is optimised for patient comfort and the facilitation of day to day care activities, an operating theatre has more complex variables to incorporate: medical procedures, heightened levels of infection control plus the associated surgical staff, flows of clean and dirty consumables, carefully controlled flows of air, extensive use of medical equipment and data etc..The optimal design, which we call the Reference Design, can then be largely created by combining these Chips in the most efficient way.This Reference Design can then be built again and again as a fixed product, by clients who have control over site conditions, as per the MoJ Houseblocks..

But for those who need flexibility, the Reference Design becomes far easier to configure flexibly into a physical asset when broken down into its ‘Chips’ (with more or less flexibility in how these are arranged depending on the asset type.)By digitally modelling the design against the given brief/constraints using Chips, we can quickly see how well the design will work, and what we can adapt to fit the wide range of needs and constraints involved.

This ability to adapt the configuration of a design would be impossible in a design expressed as 100% single components..

The ‘local’ design is then focused on ground conditions, utilities, infrastructure, placemaking, flows of people etc..Ultimately, her team whittled the final total down to a mere seven types - a change that worked better on every level of the project.. Talking transformation: ‘Industrialised Construction’ & ‘MMC.’.

One of the challenges we’re facing is that, on a very basic level, the construction industry has an issue with language.Terms lose their meaning, or are used to mean different things by different people, Marks says.

These days we use terms like ‘industrialised construction’ to refer to the overarching DfMA principle being used throughout the built environment.Marks has embraced industrialised construction as a term, however, but she acknowledges that some industry professionals, working in areas that aren’t directly related to construction, don’t always feel represented by it.. There’s also the term ‘Modern Methods of Construction’ (MMC), which Marks says she used to use but doesn’t anymore.