That’s the finding from analysis of the document conducted by the Construction Innovation Hub as part of its Platform Design Programme.
It has collated and aggregated the forward pipelines of key Whitehall departments including: Education, Health and Social Care, Housing, Justice and Defence to better understand the technical requirements across social infrastructure to assess the potential for harmonisation, standardisation and rationalisation across government.
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The Construction Innovation Hub said there was a “clear and
defined” market opportunity for platform solutions across social infrastructure
such as schools and hospitals.
The full findings of the Hub’s analysis will be published
early in 2021 as part of a report titled Defining the Need.
Some of the key insights will include:
- More than 50% of space types (such as hallways, bathrooms and storage) are not department-specific and could be delivered with a standardised platform solution;
- 38% of spaces across the new build pipeline will be ‘residential spaces’, presenting a secondary market for the private sector; and,
- There are 104 different names for toilet spaces alone across the government estate, highlighting the need for a common way of naming spaces that is machine readable to allow for analysis of future demand.
The Construction Innovation Hub said that after launching Defining
the Need it would develop a freely available ‘Platform Rulebook’. The rulebook
will contain the standards and processes that will be key to enabling the £35bn
market identified in the Hub’s analysis.
The Hub’s manufacturing impact director, Trudi Sully said: “Our
Platform Design Programme comes at a crucial time for both the sector and government.
The National Infrastructure Strategy and the Construction Playbook, both
published in recent weeks, have given public bodies a clear mandate to
transform their approach to infrastructure delivery through the adoption of
better, faster, cleaner solutions.
“The insights generated by our Defining the Need report are
deeply encouraging and exciting. The platform approach has real potential to
fundamentally transform how we build schools, hospitals and other vital social
infrastructure. By adopting our ‘kit of parts’ at scale, departments could
quicken the pace towards greater levels of productivity, cut down dramatically
on waste and drive a wholesale switch towards whole-life value.”
Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) programme director
for modern methods of construction, Will Varah said: “The IPA is delighted to
be supporting the development of the Construction Innovation Hub’s Platform
Design Programme, which closely aligns with our P-DfMA approach.
The insights revealed by the Hub illustrate the enormous
potential of the platform approach to transform how we build critical social
infrastructure. We look forward to continuing our close collaboration with
industry through the Hub, so we can deliver a more sustainable future for the
sector and society, in line with the ambitions set out in the National
Infrastructure Strategy and the Construction Playbook”.
