In fact, this is not a paradigm shift in technology but a shift in perception..

Kit-of-parts developed by Bryden Wood for rapid deployment of labs into existing office and commercial spaces.Bryden Wood's kit-of-parts for lab design.

Existing office buildings may struggle to accommodate new laboratory HVAC plant and distribution..Laboratory air-changes will be many times higher than those found in an office.This is driven by the regulations, pressure cascades, cooling loads, dispersion rates, local extraction, higher levels of filtration, and ideally some degree of futureproofing.

For Containment Level 3 (or BSL3) and above or cleanrooms, air-changes will increase further still, often becoming impractical for an office conversion.In addition, it may be necessary to separate lab HVAC systems from other parts of the building..

The top priority should be to optimise the HVAC design with a view to reducing the amount of plant and riser space required.

Techniques such as transferring extract air from adjacent office spaces to partially make-up the new lab supply can sometimes be used, however their compliance must be carefully reviewed..Similar to how flat-pack furniture uses standard parts and assembly techniques as integral elements in a wide range of products, P-DfMA designs buildings using a standardised ‘kit of parts’ that can be efficiently combined, while still producing highly customised structures.. By liberating architects from the mechanics of construction, it allows them to invest more of their time to where they can really add value – in creativity.. Optimisation as with other systems that use standardised elements, P-DfMA focused on the optimisation of each one, knowing that the multiple applications of each element will repay massively.. Optimising a standard beam so that it requires the minimum amount of steel, or reducing the depth of the floor slab to minimise the amount of concrete required, delivers substantial reductions in both carbon and cost when applied across entire sites, and even more so over multiple sites..

In the true spirit of.Design to Value.

, optimisation of elements (not just beams and floor slabs) includes as many value drivers as possible, from environmental sustainability to the health and safety of the workforce (and indeed to the shortage of numbers in that workforce) to cost.. As a result of optimisation, automation and standardisation, the P-DfMA approach increases productivity, while reducing carbon (both embodied and in operation), construction time and cost.. Against Landsec’s typical benchmarks, the Forge is forecast to achieve significant gains in all of those areas..Achieving Net-Zero.