Manufacturing buildings for people and planet

Industrialised methods have been used for many years to make construction more efficient and of higher quality. Increasing digitisation is leading to new manufacturing-led models of delivery that are fundamentally changing the way engineers and architects collaborate on projects and the design methods that are required. The transformation needs an understanding of manufacturing processes and the role design professionals should play in this new era of customisable and more automated building production. At the same time, the requirements of manufactured systems must include the equally pressing issues of the environment and the defining challenge of our time: climate change. More efficient methods should be seen as an essential part of reducing embodied carbon impacts and valuing resources over their whole life, and as an integral metric of evaluation. This paper explores issues around the ambitions for use of off-site methods, identifies some lessons from previous projects, and suggests ways to accelerate the adoption of manufacturing-led methods, including professional services delivery, education and skills.