Industrialised construction, leveraging off-site manufacturing and standardised components, offers the potential for faster, more efficient, and higher-quality rebuilding at scale.. 2.
Lower land prices also facilitate the development of open green spaces between buildings, bringing the added benefits of biophilic design.. Lower occupancy densities and the adoption of flexible working hours also mean new spatial requirements; reducing individually assigned spaces, more hot desking and creating flexible office spaces with adaptable layouts.These adaptations will require innovative HVAC design which can address changes in local environments with suitable sensors and control systems..
Newly adopted habits also affect residential design.In many cases, domestic buildings used to be empty during the central hours of the day, but with the more frequent adoption of homeworking, daylight, thermal comfort and air quality will become more important.The standards for daylight in residential buildings, for instance, have always been lower than in workspaces, and overheating is a growing phenomenon in new homes in the UK.
With the changes in working patterns, it is possible that post-pandemic size, layouts, daylight and thermal requirements of residential buildings evolve to accommodate spaces better suited to work..Improving indoor air quality and hygiene.
The impact of the pandemic and the interest in wellbeing, combined with higher pollution levels in urban areas, have increased the importance of improving indoor and outdoor air quality..
In order to improve outdoor pollution, local planning policies in some areas of the UK are requesting that buildings become air quality neutral and even air quality positive.Due to the longstanding fragmentation of the construction industry there won’t be a panacea, but most companies in the sector will find something interesting in the conclusions.
The projects have served as catalysts for change, helping to progress us further toward our goal of modernising and positively shaping the future of construction..The research has also led to interesting collaborations and networking opportunities with other Transforming Construction Challenge partners and beyond.
For example, Dr. Tom Beach at Cardiff University has been funded through one of the projects, with significant scholarly interest in his research on digital compliance checking.As a result of a link fostered by TCN+ with the Construction Innovation Hub, The Hub is now supporting Dr. Beach with some of his leading work.