Through the new policies set out in the Construction Playbook, the UK government is providing leadership in procuring buildings on a platform design for manufacturing and assembly approach (P-DfMA) and whole-life value basis, to drive better outcomes from every investment. It is working with the sector to define the platform design; bringing together space-level information from across government departments, with a five-year pipeline of circa £50 billion, to standardise the size and connectivity of shared components and spaces, while designing out common failures.

Spaces within multiple building types, such as hospitals, schools and prisons, typically have similar requirements and specifications but are often designed from scratch on each project as part of the overall design of the building.
Circulation, storage and bathrooms make up around 30 per cent of the government’s social infrastructure estate. But there are currently 104 different names for toilet spaces across this estate.
Designing and developing a new specification each time adds cost but not necessarily greater value.

Common space features across different building types will be designed using components with standardised size and connectivity specifications. This will allow departments and their teams to focus their design resources on optimising spaces that are specific to their department or communities, adding greater value.
This repeatable design process allows a P-DfMA approach, leading to improved quality and efficiency from manufacturing processes while still providing the flexibility to enable bespoke outcomes.
The aggregation of demand for set components will provide a consistent pipeline for manufacturers and contractors. Efficiencies of scale should also result in lower costs.
Reducing design time and the near-immediate availability of components will see projects being completed faster with greater certainty and quality.
As has happened in the automotive and aerospace industries, this standardisation and demand should give the construction market the confidence to invest in new solutions, training and upskilling.

The Construction Sector Deal’s Transforming Infrastructure Performance (TIP) strategy set out the need for the industry to move towards a platform approach and provided a mandate for the government to procure using such an approach.
UK government consequently committed to procuring using a value-led and manufacturing approach in its frameworks. To help government departments realise this ambition in conjunction with their supply chains, the Construction Innovation Hub (the Hub) was established.

The government's first step was to work with clients and end-users to understand the need. In 2020, The Hub's Platform team partnered with the Department for Education (DfE); the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), now the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC); the Ministry of Justice (MoJ); and the Ministry of Defence (MoD); to collate a cross-departmental data set of future requirements against a £50 billion, five-year, new-build pipeline.

The movement to bring standardised, repeatable platform systems found in the manufacturing sector to construction has been growing. It has, however, been held back by a lack of clear, consistent processes and standards that allow platform design for manufacturing and assembly (P-DfMA) solutions to work across multiple projects and building types, and by low confidence in a forward pipeline for these solutions. Aggregating demand across the government's social infrastructure pipeline could address these barriers but it requires different departments, with different users, sharing a platform design or part-platform.

Defining the Need identified a clear market opportunity for P-DfMA systems across government procured social infrastructure. Of the £50 billion pipeline analysed, around £35 billion has been identified as suitable for delivery in whole or in part through a platform solution.
It captured customer needs and objectives, across a social infrastructure portfolio, to develop a brief for the platform strategy and architecture. This has included the collation and aggregation of a forward pipeline for the Department for Education (DfE); the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), now the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC); the Ministry of Justice (MoJ); and the Ministry of Defence (MoD); analysing the total demand to assess economies of scale and scope.
A detailed functional review of sample room types across the government estate was completed. This exercise found that each department applies its own nomenclature for spaces and assets, and its own way of predicting and publishing its forward pipeline. Aligning this data into a granular and consistent format has been an important step. Discovering points of commonality and differentiation, across the cross-departmental pipeline, has informed the platform strategy and identified the characteristics of the platform system with the greatest applicability to the public sector estate.
The project serves as proof of concept for the Construction Playbook’s mandate to harmonise, digitalise and rationalise demand across new build projects and programmes in line with the policies of the Construction Playbook.

This project has been made possible by collaboration across the Department for Education (DfE); the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), now the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC); the Ministry of Justice (MoJ); and the Ministry of Defence (MoD). It has also benefitted from the involvement of over 40 industry partners, aiding in the analyses of the data.

• Department for Education
• Department of Health and Social Care
• Ministry of Defence
• Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
• Ministry of Justice

Funded through the Transforming Construction Challenge, the Construction Innovation Hub is collaborating with government and industry across four key themes - Value, Manufacturing, Digital and Assurance.
In parallel with this project, the Hub has been running a Platform Design Programme (PDP). This applies systems engineering and manufacturing techniques, to develop the processes, rules and interface standards that will create a market for buildings made from platform construction systems.
Following these processes, rules and standards, it will develop, prototype, test and demonstrate an open platform construction system that can:

• Be implemented at scale across a pan-government pipeline of social infrastructure works
• Reduce project cost, delivery time and lifetime carbon emissions
• Boost productivity and increase the asset whole life value
• Offer an opportunity to integrate active renewable energy systems
• Be used flexibly to create beautiful buildings and spaces that reach high design standards This project embodies all the challenges of building design while adding the complexity of coordinating the demands of multiple government departments, to provide a high level of standardisation without compromising flexibility and performance requirements.

Common space features across different building types will be designed using components with standardised size and connectivity specifications. This will allow departments and their teams to focus their design resources on optimising spaces that are specific to their department or communities, adding greater value.
This repeatable design process allows a P-DfMA approach, leading to improved quality and efficiency from manufacturing processes while still providing the flexibility to enable bespoke outcomes.
The aggregation of demand for set components will provide a consistent pipeline for manufacturers and contractors. Efficiencies of scale should also result in lower costs.
Reducing design time and the near-immediate availability of components will see projects being completed faster with greater certainty and quality.
As has happened in the automotive and aerospace industries, this standardisation and demand should give the construction market the confidence to invest in new solutions, training and upskilling.

Common space features across different building types will be designed using components with standardised size and connectivity specifications. This will allow departments and their teams to focus their design resources on optimising spaces that are specific to their department or communities; better meeting the needs of teachers and pupils, medical professionals and patients, housing managers and residents, Her Majesty's Prison Service employees and people in prison, and Ministry of Defence personnel.

Defining the Need has demonstrated an objective, evidence-based approach to understanding the requirements of the public sector estate. It captured customer needs and objectives, across a social infrastructure portfolio, to develop a brief for the platform strategy and architecture. This has included the collation and aggregation of a forward pipeline for the Department for Education (DfE); the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), now the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC); the Ministry of Justice (MoJ); and the Ministry of Defence (MoD); analysing the total demand to assess economies of scale and scope.
A detailed functional review of sample room types across the government estate was completed. The exercise found that each department applies its own nomenclature for spaces and assets, and its own way of predicting and publishing its forward pipeline. Aligning this data into a granular and consistent format has been an important step. Discovering points of commonality and differentiation, across the cross-departmental pipeline, has informed the platform strategy and identified the characteristics of the platform system with the greatest applicability to the public sector estate.

Findings from analysis of a £50 billion DfE, DHSC, MoD, MHCLG (now DLUHC), and MoJ’s five-year new build pipeline:

• £35 billion - the estimated value of the pipeline that could be delivered with a defined range of mid-span (~8m) platform construction systems, based on geometry alone
• £13 billion - the estimated value of the pipeline that could be delivered with the Hub's Platform Construction System
• 104 different names for toilet spaces across the estate - highlighting the need for a common, machine-readable, way of naming spaces to accurately analyse and harmonise future demand
• More than 50 per cent of space types across the pipeline are not department-specific — hallways, bathrooms and storage areas could be delivered with a standardised platform solution
• 38% of spaces across the pipeline will be ‘Residential Spaces’, presenting a secondary market for the private sector. If the Hub’s Platform Construction System demonstrates how it can be used to deliver ‘more beautiful, more sustainable, better quality homes in all parts of the country', it could potentially be used to deliver private sector homes, student accommodation, and hotels domestically and internationally
• The majority of departmental specifications are open to interpretation. Units can vary across departments - .dB or NR are both used for acoustic performance. Improved standardisation of requirements, not least nomenclature, is needed to unlock the potential for solutions that deliver pan-government

Active Energy
During the research for _Defining the Need _it became apparent that, in order to meet the UK government's net zero objectives, active building elements to generate, store and optimise the use of renewable energy should be integrated into the design of any new buildings.
The report outlined the need for specifications for new buildings to contain active roof elements such as solar, thermal, electrical generation and storage, thermal insulation, heat recovery and heat exchangers. These should be designed to seamlessly interact and interface with other elements of the building structure, such as the structural frame, external walls, core and risers. Whilst individual government departments may not yet have embedded their sustainability policies into updated technical specifications, a holistic approach to achieving net zero in operation will be required as part of a platform approach, going beyond the current inclusion of active roof technologies.

Uptake
The adoption of platform design for manufacturing and assembly (P-DfMA) has been held back by a lack of clear, consistent processes and standards across multiple projects and building types, and by low confidence in a forward pipeline for these solutions. Aggregating demand across the government's social infrastructure estate could address these barriers but it requires different departments, with different users, sharing a platform design or part-platform. Discovering points of commonality and differentiation, across a cross-departmental social infrastructure pipeline, has informed the platform strategy and identified the characteristics of the platform system with the greatest applicability to the public sector estate.
Defining the Need identified a clear market opportunity for P-DfMA systems across government procured social infrastructure. Of the £50 billion pipeline analysed, around £35 billion has been identified as suitable for delivery in whole or in part through a platform solution.
As has happened in the automotive and aerospace industries, this standardisation and demand should give the construction market the confidence to invest in new solutions, training and upskilling.