A consortium of eight companies and universities is building a demonstration factory where 70% of a building’s components—walls, frames, facades, pods, and heating systems—will be pre-manufactured offsite, then assembled on location like a giant kit of parts. This matters because UK construction productivity has stagnated for decades. The industry faces a “modernise or die” reckoning, as the Farmer Review put it. Traditional on-site building is slow, wasteful, and unpredictable. The project’s core idea—Product Based Building Solutions (PBBS) DfMA 70:60:30—aims to replace bespoke construction with standardised, repeatable product sets that can be digitally configured for different buildings. If successful, the approach could cut construction time by 30%, boost productivity by 60%, and reduce operational carbon by 30% while saving 50% in embodied carbon through reusable structural systems. A small team of skilled technicians would assemble certified components rather than manage armies of trades on muddy sites. The consortium will physically demonstrate a full-scale building at Explore Industrial Park and digitally model configurations for real-world sectors. The goal is to provide hard metrics and benchmarks so the industry can scale up adoption—transforming construction from a craft into a high-productivity manufacturing process.
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"**Productivity is a critical factor for the UK economy** -- especially in the construction industry. . As stated in the Farmer Review of the Construction Industry, we need to ""modernise or die"", and this is recognised by the Construction Sector Deal. While offsite manufacturing techniques improve both quality and productivity, a step change is needed to realise the true potential of Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA). That step change is product-based design solutions and manufacturing capacity that unlocks optimised construction and extends efficiency throughout the delivery cycle. We call this **Product Based Building Solution (PBBS) DfMA 70:60:30** -- with 70% of the building being premanufactured, providing 60% greater productivity and 30% faster construction than traditional approaches. The potential improvements to productivity are enormous, with only a small team of skilled technicians needed to place and integrate the pre-manufactured and quality controlled building components. The key to realising this potential lies in having good products and approaching the early design process with product-based solutions in mind, rather than trying to apply them as an after-thought. As such, Laing O'Rourke, AMRC, Hoare Lea, Autodesk, Project Frog, BRE, ActivePlan, Dynamic Knowledge, Converge, University of Cambridge have aligned to demonstrate this product-based approach to design and construction -- an approach that could radically change the industry. By creating a product-based approach to buildings, we have the potential to transform site construction to a place of assembly of pre-engineered and certified building products. Together, we will: * Evidence **lower carbon lifecycles, targeting a 30% operational reduction** -- based on integrating heating and cooling systems within the structure -- and a **50% saving in embodied carbon** through a reusable structural system with predicable performance through smart commissioning and better science. * Demonstrate **productivity improvements in each delivery phase** -- design, manufacture and assembly -- through physically and digitally enabled process efficiency and waste elimination. * Use a product-based architecture with defined and repeatable interfaces to provide quality and certainty in delivery. This will include **facades, frame, internal walls and finishes, pods, and building services and controls**. This will enable: * **Digital demonstration** of configuration to products sets to a range of sector applications using real-world building examples * **Physical demonstration** of integrated product-based building solutions at full scale for a representative building at Explore Industrial Park * **Evidence of productivity and performance** assurance metrics and benchmarking to support further scaling up and adoption"
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