However, there is little indication of a shift toward A2 or higher temperature ranges.
Standard solutions allow for a greater level of design and refinement – if a solution is going to be used multiple times then the benefit of good design is multiplied and amplified.It afforded us a far greater level of stakeholder engagement and buy-in than we would typically achieve for a one-off design (see below).
This resulted in, for example, designs that were highly optimised in terms of layouts, space allocation, adjacencies and functional flows – which could then be deployed across the PETP programme and wider prison estate.It creates further efficiencies.For example, the standard building types can be used across a range of sites.
For each, the site-specific design activities can be focused on the placement of the buildings relative to each other, arranging orientation to minimise overlooking and overheating (for both the comfort of prisoners and to reduce energy use), maximise views of landscape, and so on.It contributes to overall better design and allows designers to focus more of their efforts on solving the specific challenges relating to a particular site and context.
Standardised solutions lend themselves to efficiencies in construction and the application of DfMA.
Operational benefits.However, this is not a simple path.
It requires a change in the skill sets required in laboratories: scientists who develop skills in equipment engineering and coding or hardware and software engineers who develop skills in science.The current education system does not produce cross-fertilised disciplines (although skills like coding are becoming more endemic in the cohorts entering the workforce today).. Perhaps a more pressing problem is the fact that the new workforce of the 2020s is not keen to travel into an office or laboratory to work, preferring working remotely.. For research work and smaller more specialised laboratories, the automation story is different.
Without the scale, the investment in robotised systems against simple improvements in efficiency does not add up.The released value of scientists being freed up to spend more time analysing, discussing, collaborating and thinking is not well quantified.