Laing O’Rourke is an international engineering company operating across multiple sectors and large-scale programmes. It has invested in a pioneering offsite production approach, known as DfMA 70:60:30 where 70% of construction is conducted offsite, creating a 60% improvement in productivity and a 30% improvement in delivery times. This approach supports faster, safer and more efficient construction.

Design for Manufactured and Assembly and the increasing use of BIM have both standardised the way designers select components for new construction projects. But the engineering rules about how they should be assembled are not stored and shared in the same way. This lack of repeatability and best practice means that project teams are essentially starting from scratch each time they work on a new construction project, leading to inefficiencies and unnecessary delays and costs.

Design for Manufacture and Assembly used at design stage already saves time and cost, and creates more certainty around the delivery of a programme. Product Based Building Solutions takes these precise manufacturing processes to the next level. Designers can not only digitally select the best quality components and materials from a huge number of options but they can model them in a digital twin and choose those components that can be most efficiently and effectively assembled in the physical building to create the most optimum kit of parts buildings. Importantly, the standardisation in the components and assembly doesn't detract from how bespoke the final building can be, so clients can still customise the layout and finish. This all leads to manufacturing-based approaches that improve the productivity and quality of our built environment, yet still meet the specific needs of the end user, resident or owner.

In challenging itself to improve on its own 70:60:30 target, Laing O'Rourke set the following goals:

• To reduce design effort by 50%
• To reduce manufacturing lead time by 40%
• To save labour by 25%
• To reduce assembly time and labour by 30% And from experience, Laing O'Rourke knows the only way to deliver these improvements was to embed platform-based design and kit of parts assembly even further into the design process - and then prove it on a live build.

Laing O'Rourke reached out to nine organisations from all areas of the industry, design and digital innovation to evolve its DfMA 70:60:30 approach. The answer was a digital catalogue - Product Based Building Solutions - that standardises the components, embeds engineering dimensions and assembly rules at design stage, but doesn't standardise the final outcome. The team wanted to test this via a demonstrator, to prove that the design, manufacture, logistics and assembly all work as predicted by the digital twin.

There is currently a high demand for residential and school buildings, but a lack of repeatable, manufacturing processes in the industry, meaning time, materials and resource are wasted every time a project is designed from scratch. Product Based Building Solutions can help create new blueprints for efficient, productive construction that uses the best of standardised processes without damaging the ability to customise the final finish.

PBBS creates repeatability by allowing designers to pre-design offsite and digitally select those components that are of high quality and perform well together in assembly. Rather than starting from scratch each time, they can choose components from a digital product library to create a digital twin of the building. And because the assembly dimensions and engineering rules are embedded into the digital twin, designers can choose which components integrate best with each other before manufacturing the kit of parts. For example, a designer can select from a range of standardised rooms or bathroom modules, with the PBBS helping them choose those that perform best together and can be assembled in the most efficient and effective way. Building, design and construction time will also benefit from repeatability and standardisation. Quality checks can be performed in a controlled environment; snagging and checking for defects can take place offsite; manufacturing lines can be set up to reduce material wastage and unnecessary labour; and low carbon materials can be used. By standardising elements of the school façade panels, the team have improved productivity, and technicians have been installing one panel in just 18 minutes. The manufacturing processes themselves save nearly 16 weeks of onsite time, reducing the time it takes to put up a school by 29%. To take this even further, The Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) is now looking at automated installation, such as automated painting, tiling, and digital tools for assembling pods and facades. Laing O'Rourke have drawn upon the experience of specialist building services business, Crown House Technologies (CHt), and suppliers to deliver an improved solution for horizontal and vertical distribution modules, as well as plug and play modular wiring systems. Laing O’Rourke and CHt have significant experience of delivering modular pre-manufactured horizonal and vertical distribution modules to projects across the UK, including Manchester Airport’s terminal 2 redevelopment, Henry Royce Institute, the new Royal Liverpool University Hospital and for the new Elizabeth line's Liverpool Street Station in London. They refined Laing O'Rourke's standardised solutions to meet specific needs of residential and school developments, remaining conscious of the cost points in each sector. Teams developed a lighter weight segmental vertical riser designed for easier installation. Usually a crane hook would be needed to put a riser in place but the PBBS solution, which uses hoists and a two-person team, saw initial installation in under 20 minutes. The horizontal module has been engineered to use reusable transport frames, and it can also be installed in 20 minutes by a crew of three. Both solutions were designed and produced at the CHt Manufacturing facility. They have a 50% reduction in permanent steel framing- saving on the cost of materials and cutting carbon. Laing O'Rourke also moved a sizeable portion of the labour normally associated with installing MEP inside a residential apartment to an offsite environment. By working with supply chain partner, Apex Wiring, they produced a prefabricated utility cupboard containing all the apartment’s ventilation, heating and electrical equipment. Made in controlled offsite conditions, it was easily and quickly installed on site. To accelerate the fit-out installation of wiring, Laing O'Rourke have trialled four different plug-and-play supply chain products. They’ve all proved very easy to install and when coupled with the wireless mesh lighting control systems the on site installation and commissioning times were cut by up to 80% - a major productivity boost.

The PBBS digital product library holds each configurable component including important associated information such as quality and sustainability. PBBS goes one step further by embedding engineering and assembly rules into each component. Therefore, when a designer is creating a digital twin of the building, they can see all the attributes and benefits of individual, standardised products as well as their attributes when combined, enabling them to make selections based on how they best integrate with each other. The product library currently holds 165 products from 21 different manufacturers.
This early-stage digital configuration feeds into offsite manufacturing processes to create a kit of parts buildings that is precise, of high quality and efficient to put together. It also means these standardised components and rules can be used to automatically report variances, addressing the root cause of defects rather than fixing them retrospectively, adopting the Golden Thread approach. This means the detailed fabrication level engineering can be solved once and re-used many times with confidence and predictability. While standardisation improves productivity, clients still have specific needs and seek bespoke solutions. That's why experts at ActivePlan and Dynamic Knowledge are digitising client requirements and transferring them into machine-readable formats. Clients can control the final layout and finishes, and still benefit from reduced cost and build time. The team are working with the Supply Chain Sustainability School to disseminate this best practice.

PBBS encourages the industry to think of buildings as numerous components that can be chosen individually but need to come together and integrate effectively. Having such a large range of specialist products in the product library means PBBS can be applied across multiple market sectors beyond schools and homes and into apartments, hospitals and commercial buildings. PBBS also supports a modernised workforce. Since manufacturing is done offsite, it inherently requires less labour on site, increasing safety and productivity. This shift in construction method can open up new training opportunities such as multi-skilled operatives and assembly technicians. In light of this, Dynamic Knowledge is embedding competency frameworks and skills development to provide greater assurance that project teams will possess the skills required effectively to use PBBS to deliver projects, maximising its benefits. As a result of this, a report; New perspectives on competency-based Work and Workforce planning in the context of Design for Manufacturing & Assembly (DFMA) has been developed. The innovation competency management and analytics expertise brought to the PBBS project modeled how to use products as the key contextualising factor in identifying competency demand requirements. It has also proved that competence frameworks and standards can be made machine readable and developed digital capability in the form of a Competence Knowledge Base.

Laing O'Rourke partnered with nine organisations on this project:

Dynamic Knowledge provided AI-based competency requirements and analysis of improved delivery systems; Project Frog developed the ‘Kit Connect’ digital configuration; AutoDesk is a 3D design company who used KitConnect in the project which is a cloud solution which manages data in a kit of parts library; Active Plan is a technology company focused on digital requirements capture and consistent lifecycle information; University of Cambridge supplied experts in thermal performance prediction; the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (part of University of Sheffield) looked at manufacturing processes and simulation; Hoare Lea Engineering is a leading building services design consultancy focused on design efficiency and lifecycle performance; Building Research Establishment (BRE) provided assurance, testing and accreditation, as a member of the Construction Innovation Hub (CIH); and Converge supplied the wireless concrete sensor technology.

• Active Plan
• Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC)
• AutoDesk
• Building Research Establishment
• Converge
• Dynamic Knowledge
• Hoare Lea Engineering
• Laing O'Rourke
• Project Frog
• University of Cambridge

The Transforming Construction Challenge funded the development of PBBS and subsequent demonstrator. BRE, part of the Construction Innovation Hub, is connecting the PBBS team to another TCC demonstrator project, Enabling Housing for Inclusive Growth, so they can share benchmarking and metrics data, and compare impact measurement with each other. An Advisory Group, with members of the TCC team on the panel, also gives the PBBS team steer and insight. Laing O'Rourke is also an active member of the Infrastructure Industry Innovation Partnership (i3P), a community of client and supply chain organisations that have made a commitment to delivering collaborative innovation through projects, supported by a large network of experts and innovators and world leading industry knowledge. 

PBBS helps customise the visible and standardise the invisible components of a building. By assessing each component individually for its contribution to whole-life value, designers can make better decisions about which to choose and how they will work better together in the overall final building, benefiting the end user. Capturing standardised elements and repeatable processes means PBBS can share best practice across the industry – so every build using PBBS will benefit from increasingly refined data and lessons learnt.  Laing O’Rourke and the project team plan to roll out PBBS across the sector to create new standards for the industry. Ultimately this will help UK construction deliver better quality buildings that support people, places and our planet going forward.

The digital nature of this project means that it can be shared easily throughout the industry, supporting easier and more effective collaboration between supply chain partners, with similar goals and outlooks.

PBBS standardises components, engineering and assembly rules so that designers can make the best and most informed choices from the start. The digital library of components lead to an optimised digital twin that is precise, of high quality and can be put together effectively and efficiently. But, most importantly, the assembly rules still allow the building to be customised, and reconfigured around numerous different layouts and finishes. Once the digital twin is ready, the exact specifications can be sent directly to be manufactured offsite, increasing the quality and speed of the build, while reducing time and cost. The live demonstrator has created a powerful prototype for the digital product library and modular pods in action, and demonstrated the theory working in practice.

The project has seen a 40% reduction of lead time in the manufacturing phase when PBBS is used, against a target to reduce onsite building time by 30%. The demonstrator project will be completed in June 2021 and will validate and evidence the achievement of the targets.

Assurance
The team are feeding into the Construction Innovation Hub's Assurance Framework and will be using the Hub's digital assurance tools to support the demonstrator's assurance and governance. Keith Waller, Programme Director for the Hub, is part of the PBBS Advisory Group.

Emissions
Together, the PBBS project team will:

• Evidence lower in-use carbon, targeting a 30% operational reduction – based on integrated radiant heating and cooling systems within the structure, which use convection and radiation of surfaces through thermal massing (the ability for a material to store heat) as a more energy efficient alternative to traditional heating and cooling systems. In-use carbon will be reduced even further through the data-driven selection of the most airtight and efficient facades – reducing wasted energy further through both air-tightness and conduction properties.
• Generate a 53% saving in embodied carbon by using an offsite manufactured concrete structural system made from an optimised, low-carbon concrete mix. When factoring in the re-usable and demountable nature of some of these offsite manufactured concrete structural systems, this increases to a 70% carbon saving. 

Productivity
PBBS will streamline the end to end project delivery process providing further improvement in productivity above Laing O'Rourke's DFMA benchmark of 60% improvement in productivity through further reductions in effort.

To accelerate the fit-out installation of wiring, Laing O'Rourke have trialled four different plug-and-play supply chain products. They’ve all proved very easy to install and when coupled with the wireless mesh lighting control systems the on site installation and commissioning times were cut by up to 80% - a major productivity boost.

Importantly, it will unlock efficiencies in every part of the process, reducing the time and resources needed for every aspect of a construction project: design, costing, planning, manufacturing, transport and final installation on site.

Time
Headline time and productivity improvements include:

• Manufacturing – 40% reduced lead time and 25% labour saving
• Design – 50% reduction in effort
• Assembly – 30% saving in time and labour The project has seen a 40% reduction of lead time in the manufacturing phase, against a target to reduce onsite building time by 30%. For example, for the bathroom pods, the team has managed to create a factory manufactured product that saves two weeks during fit-out. On the demonstrator, the bathroom pods were installed in 30 minutes, from truck to final position. The team has also assessed how to manufacture the most effective hybrid walls. Tested on Trinity School, the team found that previous lattice solutions to wall frames took 18 weeks and two days, whilst PBBS’s frame takes 11 weeks and four days - a 50% time saving just for frames. By standardising elements of the school façade panels, technicians have been installing one panel in just 18 minutes. Previous approaches for structural installations required 25 operatives, PBBS requires 7 - a 72% resource saving.

Uptake
Department for Education has been involved throughout the investment, and its output specifications and scheduled training is included in PBBS’s strategy and toolkit. To support the buying and construction of future school buildings, the team has developed DfE standards for ease of procurement.

https://constructionmanagermagazine.com/laing-orourke-targets-net-zero-and-gender-parity-by-2033/
Laing O'Rourke LinkedIn post
Tackling tradition: the PBBS taskforce