by Charles Dickens.
At Bryden Wood, it’s a guiding principle that we never compromise the design to fit the system.Rather, our aim is to allow a level of flexibility in the components to resolve the tension between the need for optimisation and variability – what the market wants, or clients need.
For example, with the Platform to superstructure, we have a series of standard connection brackets, which link the beams and columns.The same brackets are used consistently and they are colour-coded.This makes it easy to teach people how to do the assembly and they become very quick at doing it.
However, the beams and columns can be any length.Spans can be specific to particular clients, but to the operative on site, it's the same yellow bracket, requiring the same torque wrench and two bolts.
Platforms enable us to get down to a much more granular level and simultaneously open the door for continual improvement and variability going forward with respect to supply chain choices, material choices and so on.. Maximising value with construction platforms.
Because platform construction uses a limited number of components, it gives us a greater amount of control.A building is a system that, together with other systems, realises the value that matters to client and stakeholders..
In the case of the prison transformation project we worked on, this meant that there were two key components to the solution: the people that work in the prison and the building that allows them to do what they need to do in order to help prisoners in their rehabilitation journey.In the case of a pharmaceutical plant it is the different value-adding steps of the overall process and the interface with people who operate that process and the utilities required for that process..
The most important thing during these initial workshops is to keep an open mind.Rather than tabling a design solution too early and possibly forcing the conversation to a preconceived solution, we encourage stakeholders to speak freely about what matters to them.