As the first major building designed and delivered using our P-DfMA approach, it considers social value further than the conventional considerations of improved public realm, economic value and sustainability.

Jack Ricketts says it isn’t currently known how long digitising the planning process will take because of the financial investment required.However, there are plans for an application to Innovate UK and their Smart Grant funding programme.

Of course, digitising the entire planning process is an enormous goal, and for efficiency’s sake, the process will have to begin with a single use case.Ricketts feels the best and most informative starting point is building safety, highlighting MHCLG’s external wall system survey as a good example of data collection and collation..The MHCLG project asked local authorities to research and report back on the materials present in the external walls of all buildings above 18 metres within a particular borough.

Although it sounds like a straightforward task, in reality it presented some unexpectedly complex questions and issues to surmount.What is a building?

Is it the postal address?

The single address with three blocks in it?.It focuses on the objectives of our clients and all stakeholders, and combines their expertise in their products or service, with our expertise in design, engineering, modern methods of construction, manufacturing and digital construction technology We use this combined expertise to drive value into the design process..

Although this might sound obvious, it’s a long way from what actually happens in a lot of situations, which aren’t Design to Value led.Typically, clients spend a lot of time thinking about what they want out of a building.

They try to formulate the solution as precisely as possible and then appoint a design consultant to turn that into a good design.Stakeholders are consulted along the way and experts review the design at certain points, but have little control over a concept that is put forward by the lead designer and is not always based on a full understanding of all relevant aspects.