Stefanos Gkougkoustamos

Lean construction in practice: a virtuous circle of benefits.

This combined approach can be applied to any building type, but we have seen huge benefits when the buildings we design are particularly complex, or house particularly complex systems and processes..The benefits of a Platform approach to design and construction: time, cost, quality.

A Platforms approach to Design for Manufacture and Assembly (P-DfMA) delivers significant benefits to a project, including: reduced costs, reduced programme time, reduced carbon, reduced numbers of workers required to build, increased health and safety, increased quality, increased flexibility and adaptability.. And we can deliver all of this with no compromise on the aesthetic quality of the building.The beauty of Circle Birmingham hospital – including the spectacular cantilever we achieved over the main entrance – bears witness to that last point.And this is not simply architectural posturing.

We know that the physical environment affects us directly, and it has been shown repeatedly that the patient experience of a beautiful and uplifting hospital environment makes a materially positive difference to clinical outcomes.. Clearly, all of these benefits are critical when healthcare is under such pressure – pressure which shows no signs of abating.When public money is being spent at such scale, the opportunity to increase benefits across the piece while also making the money go further is surely one that we should seize.. A proven approach.

Our approach is proven to work.

There is nothing stopping us from doing this other than inertia and reluctance among some parties to change from traditional methods of design and construction.This enables us to make better, sustainable design choices, and to improve a building’s performance right from the start.

We look at issues such as the material choice for a building’s facade and structure, as well as energy performance and thermal comfort.These are evaluated with respect to the passing of time.

What will happen year on year, and at the end of a building’s life?.Embodied carbon in sustainable building design.